Northern White Rhinoceros

Northern white rhinoceros
A male northern white rhinoceros at the San Diego Wild Animal Park
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Genus:	Ceratotherium
Species:	C. simum
Subspecies:	C. s. cottoni
Trinomial name
Ceratotherium simum cottoni (Lydekker, 1908)
Range map in orange

The northern white rhinoceros, or northern square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), is one of the two subspecies of the white rhinoceros. This subspecies is a grazer in grasslands and savanna woodlands. These animals are now feared to be extinct in the wild.^[2] There are currently seven left in captivity. Initially, six northern white rhinoceros lived in the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic. Four of the six rhinos - which are also the only reproductive animals of this subspecies - were transported to a Kenyan reserve in Africa, where scientists hope they will successfully breed and save this subspecies from extinction. One of two remaining in the Czech Republic died in late May 2011.^[3] The two other rhinos presently live at the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park in California.

Following the phylogenetic species concept, recent research has suggested the northern white rhinoceros may be an altogether different species, rather than a subspecies of white rhinoceros, in which case the correct scientific name for the former is Ceratotherium cottoni. Distinct morphological and genetic differences suggest the two proposed species have been separated for at least a million years.^[4]

Wild population

The northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) formerly ranged over parts of northwestern Uganda, southern Chad, southern South Sudan, the eastern part of Central African Republic, and northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.^[5]

Poachers reduced their population from 500 to 15 in the 1970s and 1980s. From the early 1990s through mid 2003, the population recovered to more than 32 animals. Surveys in 2000 indicated the population had started recovering, with 30 animals confirmed in 2000, and possibly six others.^[6] Since mid 2003, poaching had intensified and reduced the wild population to only five to 10 animals (seven actual count worldwide).^[7] The four known remaining northern white rhinos in the wild, in Garamba National Park, have not been seen in recent years, and it is feared they have been killed.^[2] If confirmed, this would make the northern white rhino extinct in the wild apart from the last chance efforts by the Ol Pejeta Conservancy to reintroduce it in a wild state.

Garamba National Park

The last surviving population of wild northern white rhinos were located in Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In January 2005, the government of the DRC approved a two-part plan for the translocation of five northern white rhinos from Garamba National Park to a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya. The second part commits the government and its international partners to increase conservation efforts in Garamba, so the northern white rhinos can be returned when it is safe again.^[8] The translocation did not occur, due to the death of the remaining animals.

In August 2005, ground and aerial surveys conducted under the direction of African Parks Foundation and the African Rhino Specialist Group (ARSG) had only found four animals, a solitary adult male and a group of one adult male and two adult females.^[8] In June 2008, it was reported that the species may have gone extinct in the wild, since none of these four known remaining individuals had been seen since 2006.^[2]

Ol Pejeta Conservancy

A northern white rhinoceros crosses the equator during translocation to Ol Pejeta Conservancy Photo:Michael Dalton-Smith

One of four northern white rhinos translocated to Ol Pejeta is now living in a semiwild state. Photo:Michael Dalton-Smith

While technically not in a totally wild state because of the surveillance they are currently under, four of the six rhinos that used to live in the Dvůr Králové Zoo in Czech Republic were transferred to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya in a last bid to save their species. They arrived at the conservancy after an air and road trip on 20 December 2009,^[9] and seem to be integrating very well in their new home.

The four rhinos (2 male and 2 female), under constant watch by specialists and staff, lived in specially constructed bomas with access to a 400 x 400 meter paddock area. After a few months allowed for acclimatization to their new surroundings, they will soon be released into a protected breeding area, where they will encounter other wildlife; this will be their final home.

To prevent any unnecessary injuries they might inflict on each other while interacting in their fenced area, and give their horns an opportunity to regrow to a natural shape (as their front horns had grown bent by much rubbing against enclosure bars in captivity), all four rhinos were sedated and their horns were sawn off. When they are released, this will also make them less vulnerable to the poaching that drove their species to near extinction, as the horn, which is believed to have aphrodisiac properties, is solely what the poachers are after. In place of their horns, radio transmitters have been installed to allow closer monitoring of their whereabouts.^[10]

The progress of this attempt at saving the northern white rhinoceros is documented on the initiative's own website and on the Conservancy's website. Several documentaries are in the works, including an episode of Ol Pejeta Diaries entitled "Return of the African Titans" for Oasis HD Canada fall 2010, and a follow-up half-hour episode to follow. This translocation is also the subject of a BBC Last Chance to See special entitled "Return of the Rhino",^[11] presented by Stephen Fry and the zoologist Mark Carwardine; the TV program reported at the end that the two pairs of rhinos were "flirting".

Since May 2010, two of the northern white rhinos have been moved from the initial holding pens to a much larger 700-acre (2.8 km²) semiwild enclosure. There they roam among many African animals, including several southern white rhino females and many plains animals.

Captive population

The fully captive northern white rhino population consists of only three animals, and is maintained in two zoological institutions in the U.S.A. and the Czech Republic.

Dvůr Králové Zoo

A northern white rhinoceros with an Einiosaurus-like horn at the ZOO Dvůr Králové

The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) has some internationally coordinated breeding programmes of wild animals such as the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP). There is also a white rhino EEP, which includes only three individuals, of which two are pure northern white rhinoceros subspecies. These individuals are all located in the Dvůr Králové Zoo in Dvůr Králové nad Labem, Czech Republic.^[12]

• Nesari, a female wild born at Shambe, Sudan, on 19 September 1972, died in 2011.
• Nasi, a female born at Dvůr Králové Zoo, Czech Republic, on 11 November 1977, died in 2008.
• Nabire, a female born at Dvůr Králové Zoo, Czech Republic, on 15 November 1983, is still there.

The male named Saut, wild born at Shambe in Sudan on 19 September 1972, died in August 2006,^[13] age 33.

The zoo holds one hybrid female. Her mother was a northern white rhino (C. s. cottoni), but her father was a southern white rhino (C. s. simum) named Arthur.

This zoo was also home to four other northern white rhinoceros, two males and two females, but they were transferred to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on December 19, 2009^[14] in a joint effort by the zoo, Fauna and Flora International, Back to Africa, Lewa, and Kenya Wildlife Service. The Czech Dvůr Králové Zoo was the only zoo in which northern white rhinos produced offspring. As the last offspring came to the world in 2000, the zoo management decided to stimulate the rhinos' sexual appetite by putting them back into their natural habitat. The agreement with the Kenyan government expects the rhinos never to be returned to the Czech Republic. A television program about these events reported "flirting" among these rhinos after release in Kenya.

Those four are:[4]

• Sudan, a 35-year-old male, who was caught from the wild in Sudan at 3 years old.
• Suni, a male, was born in captivity in 1980. He had mated while in zoos. Some of his sperm has been collected and frozen.
• Najin, a female, was born in captivity in 1989. She is Suni's half-sister.
• Fatu, a female, was born in captivity in 2000. She is the daughter of Najin.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park in San Diego, California, has two northern white rhinos,^[7][15] both of which were wild-caught. They are a female named Nola and a male named Angalifu. One other female, named Nadi, which was not behaviorally receptive, died on May 30, 2007.^[15]

References

1. ^ "Ceratotherium simum ssp. cottoni". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. 2008. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/4183. Retrieved 1 January 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Times Online | News | Environment | Poachers kill last four wild northern white rhinos
3. ^ Johnston, Raymond (2 June 2011). "White rhino dies in Czech zoo, seven left worldwide". Czech Position. http://www.ceskapozice.cz/en/news/society/white-rhino-dies-czech-zoo-seven-left-worldwide. Retrieved 2 June 2011. 
4. ^ Groves, C.P. et al (2010). Desalle, Robert. ed. "The Sixth Rhino: A Taxonomic Re-Assessment of the Critically Endangered Northern White Rhinoceros". PLoS ONE 5 (4): e9703. Bibcode 2010PLoSO...5.9703G. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0009703. PMC 2850923. PMID 20383328. http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0009703. 
5. ^ Sydney, J. 1965. The past and present distribution of some African ungulates. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 3:1-397.
6. ^ Hillman Smith, K. 2001. Status of northern white rhinos and elephants in Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo, during the wars. Pachyderm journal of the African Elephant, African Rhino and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups. July–December 2001. 31: 79-81.
7. ^ ^{a b} International Rhino Foundation. 2002. Rhino Information - Northern White Rhino. Downloaded from [1] at 19 September 2006
8. ^ ^{a b} IUCN. 2005. Reprieve planned for Garamba's rhinos: extra efforts promised to safeguard their homeland. Gland, Switzerland, 21 January 2005 News Release. Downloaded from [2]
9. ^ Northern White Rhinos Arrive on Ol Pejeta, Ol Pejeta Conservancy website, Saturday, 23 December 2009
10. ^ Northern White Rhinos Progress, Ol Pejeta Conservancy website, Friday, 15 January 2010
11. ^ "Return of the Rhino". BBC, 2010, first aired on 31 October 2010, on BBC 2 (UK).
12. ^ White Rhino EEP, Report for ZOO Dvůr Králové, Location: Dvur Kralove nad Labem, Czech Republic. Downloaded at 16 September 2006 from [3].
13. ^ The Rhino Resource Center - Rhino Images. Downloaded from http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/images/Dvur-0373_i1224678742.php
14. ^ Four of the World's Last Known Eight Northern White Rhinos Come Home to Africa, Ol Pejeta website, Saturday, 19 December 2009
15. ^ ^{a b} Eastman, Q. (2007) Northern white rhinos in danger. North County Times (Monday, June 11, 2007 4:01 PM PDT ). Downloaded from http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/06/11/news/inland/61007190722.txt

Further reading

• http://www.northernwhiterhinolastchance.com/Home_Page.html