Extinction of black rhino looms

BLACK rhino are being poached to the “brink of extinction”‚ a new study has revealed.

“We could not imagine that it [rhino poaching] would have [such] a great effect. It is shocking‚” said Desire Dalton‚ one of the authors of an international research study on the extinction of black rhino.

The study titled “Extinctions‚ genetic erosion and conservation options for the black rhinoceros

was conducted to investigate what is left of the rhino as “well documented” poaching and subsequent demographic collapse of black rhino populations have “raised fears” this species will disappear from the wild within the next two decades.

The study found there has been a “staggering” loss of 69% of the species’ genetic variation.

“We have found that there is a decline in genetic diversity with 44 of 64 genetic lineages no longer existing,” said Professor Antoinette Kotze‚ the manager of the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa’s department of research and scientific services.

Dalton said the research was done over eight years by a group of 17 international experts.

It was conducted by comparing the DNA collected from specimens housed in museums around the world and wild animals.

The DNA was extracted from the skin of museum specimens and from tissue and faecal samples from animals in the wild.

“We looked at the DNA of rhino. We got tissue samples from dead animals and we used blood samples from live rhino‚” Dalton said.

She said the museums they worked with to collect samples include the Natural History Museum in Zimbabwe and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

DNA samples from South Africa and Zimbabwe were analysed locally‚ while the rest were analysed in Vienna.

The study stressed the need to “quell” the poaching pandemic as it further puts a strain on the genetic diversity of the species.

Genetic diversity‚ according to biology online.org‚ refers to “both the vast numbers of different species as well as the diversity within a species. The greater the genetic diversity within a species‚ the greater that species’ chances of long-term survival”.

Black rhinos have already been hunted to extinction in many parts of Africa.

This species is found in only five African countries – Tanzania‚ Zimbabwe‚ Kenya‚ Namibia‚ and South Africa.

This photograph by South African photographer Brent Stirton of a Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve black rhino bull shot dead and dehorned won first prize in the Nature Picture Story Category of the World Press Photo Awards in Amsterdam. Stirton’s...