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The number of rhinos is slightly up but poaching has increased too

The number of rhinos is slightly up but poaching has increased too
A rhino and its calf, on the Red List of Threatened Species according to IUCN (International Union Conservation Of Nature), are seen at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku

The rhino population across the world has increased slightly but so have the killings, mostly in South Africa, as poaching fed by huge demand for rhino horns remains a top threat, conservationists said in a new report.

The number of white rhinos increased from 15,942 in 2022 to 17,464 in 2023, but the black and greater one-horned rhino stayed the same, according to the report published by the ahead of Sunday's World Rhino Day.

Another , the northern white rhino, is technically extinct with only two females being kept in a secure private conservancy in Kenya, known as Ol Pejeta. A trial is ongoing to develop embryos in the lab from an egg and sperm previously collected from white rhinos and transferring it into a surrogate female black rhino.

A total of 586 rhinos were killed in Africa in 2023, most of them in South Africa鈥攚hich has the highest population of rhinos at an estimated 16,056. The killings increased from 551 reported in 2022, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

With all five subspecies combined, there are just under 28,000 rhinos left in the world, from 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.

Rhinos face various environmental threats like due to development and but poaching, based on the belief that their horns have medicinal uses, remains the top threat.

The number of rhinos is slightly up but poaching has increased too
A black rhino, on the Red List of Threatened Species according to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), eats grass at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File

Philip Muruthi, the vice president for species conservation at the Africa Wildlife Foundation, said protection has played a big role in increasing rhino population. In Kenya, their numbers rose from 380 in 1986 to 1,000 last year, he said. "Why has that happened? Because the rhinos were brought into sanctuaries and were protected."

Muruthi advocates for a campaign that will end the demand for rhino horn as well as adoption of new technology in tracking and monitoring rhinos for their protection while also educating communities where they live on the benefits of rhinos to the ecosystem and the economy.

Known as mega herbivores that mow the parks and create inroads for other herbivores, rhinos are also good for establishing forests by ingesting seeds and spreading them across the parks in their dung.

Murithi lamented that the northern white rhino鈥攚hose only two females are left in the world鈥攕hould have never gotten so close to the brink of extinction.

"Don't get the numbers to where it's very expensive to recover and we are not even sure that it will happen," he said.

The number of rhinos is slightly up but poaching has increased too
National Museums of Kenya research scientist Bernard Agwanda, inspects the taxidermy of last male northern white rhino, known as 'Sudan' at National Museums of Kenya, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku

The body of the last male northern white rhino鈥攏amed Sudan鈥攖hat died in 2018 has been preserved and displayed at the Museums of Kenya in Nairobi.

A research scientist and curator of mammals at the museum, Bernard Agwanda, said preserving Sudan will tell the story of how the species lived among humans and why conservation is important.

"So we expect that the behind us here is going to live for one or two centuries to be able to tell its story for generations to come," he said.

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