Rhinos are in A
Crisis
AT THE START OF THE 20TH CENTURY
500,000
RHINOS ROAMED THE WILD
BY 1970, THE WORLDWIDE POPULATION FELL TO
70,000
TODAY, THE NUMBER OF RHINOS SURVIVING IN THE WORLD IS ONLY
28,000
WHITE RHINO
17,212 – 18,915
GREATER ONE HORNED RHINO
> 3,600
Black Rhino
5,366 – 5,627
Sumatran Rhino
< 80
Javan Rhino
74
4 of 5 species remaining Are
threatened with extinction
3 of those are critically
endangered, which means they
could go extinct in our lifetime
The reasons Why:
Record Poaching
In the last decade, poachers have killed almost 10,000 rhinos across Africa to feed the demand for horn on the black market.
If rhino deaths outpace births, their populations will continue to decline.
The reasons Why:
GROWING DEMAND FOR RHINO HORN
Burgeoning middle classes in China and Vietnam are increasingly able to afford rhino horn, which is illegally traded on the black market. This demand drives record poaching rates. Rhinos are poached for their horn, which is made of keratin — the same as your hair and fingernails. Consumers in Vietnam use rhino horn as purported cures for everything from hangovers to cancer and as a show of wealth. Consumers in China use rhino horn as a status symbol and in Traditional Asian Medicine to reduce fever and treat other ailments
There is no scientific evidence that rhino horn has any medicinal value.
The reasons Why:
Habitat Fragmentation
Human development has chopped up landscapes where rhinos live, leading to small, isolated populations that cannot get together to breed.
Dividing a habitat prevents rhinos from breeding.
The reasons Why:
LACK OF POLITICAL WILL
Range countries and consumer countries alike need to crack down on corruption, enforce their laws, and uphold their commitments to international treaties if rhinos are to survive.