News Excerpt:
Recently, South African scientists injected radioactive material into live rhinoceros horns to make them easier to detect at border posts in a pioneering project to curb poaching.
More about the news:
- South Africa is home to a large majority of the world’s rhinoceroses and is a hotspot for poaching driven by demand from Asia, where horns are used in traditional medicine for their supposed therapeutic effect.
- The horn is mostly sold in Eastern countries such as Japan, where they are used in traditional medicine to cure headaches, fever, food poisoning and even snake bites.
- Another country where Rhino horn is popular is Yemen, where Rhino horn is highly prized and used as the handle for a traditional dagger called a "jambiya", which is a symbol of manhood. It is presented to a boy when he is 12 years old.
- The radioactive material would render the horn useless, essentially poisonous for human consumption.
- Rhinoceros horns are highly sought after on black markets, where their price by weight rivals that of gold and cocaine.
|
African rhino
- The African rhino is divided into two species: the black rhino and the white rhino.
- White rhinos mainly live in South Africa, but they have also been reintroduced to Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.
- Southern white rhinos have been introduced to Kenya, Zambia, and Cote d’Ivoire.
- The majority of the black rhino population—98%—is concentrated in four countries: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya.
- South Africa houses 40% of the total black rhino population. There are some black rhinos in the region spread between Cameroon and Kenya.
|
|
Indian Rhino
- Habitat and distribution:
-
- The preferred habitat of an Indian rhinoceros is primarily areas that contain grasslands and wetlands located in the foothills of the Himalayas and the Brahmaputra and Ganges valleys.
- At present, the species are restricted to small patches in the Indo-Nepal Terai, northern parts of West Bengal, and Assam. Formerly they were extensively distributed in the Brahmaputra and Gangetic valley.
- Within India, rhinos are mainly found in the seven Protected Areas viz. -
- Kaziranga NP,
- Pobitara WLS,
- Orang NP,
- Manas NP in Assam,
- Jaldapara NP and Gorumara NP in West Bengal
- Dudhwa NP in Uttar Pradesh.
- In addition, a transient population is also observed in Katerniaghat WLS in Uttar Pradesh and Valmiki TR in Bihar, which experience visits of rhinos from adjoining Nepal.
- Characteristics:
- The Indian rhino has a single horn, which is present in both sexes.
- The Indian rhino is the largest of all Asian rhinos. One of the most amphibious rhino species, it is an excellent swimmer.
- It can run at a speed of 55km/hr for short periods.
- Though it has an incredible sense of hearing and smell, its eyesight is relatively poor.
- The average height is about 170cm, with a circumference of 335cm. While a fully grown male rhino weighs around 1800 to 2800 kg, a female weighs approximately 1,600kg.
- Breeding takes place at all times of the year, and the gestation period is about 16 months.
- The female attains sexual maturity between five and six years, and the male between seven and ten years.
- They are presently classified as ‘vulnerable’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
|
