11/21/2023 0 Comments South western black rhinoceros![]() Ironically, rhino horn is just made of the same substance as human fingernails – keratin. A kilo of rhino horn can fetch up to US$60,000 on the black market. Today the demand comes from Asia and the Middle East, where rhino horn is falsely considered to have medicinal properties and is used to make ornamental dagger handles. When early settlers came to eastern and southern Africa, rhinos were hunted for sport and meat. The populations of black rhinos have seen improvements in numbers across all three subspecies, with the largest increases in populations seen by the eastern black rhino over the past decade, averaging 30-40% population increases, here on Ol Pejeta we hope to keep this number rising With a population of over 165 eastern black rhinos, we are the largest black rhino sanctuary in East and Central Africa. In 1993, there were estimated to be just 2,300 black rhinos living in the wild, however thanks to conservation efforts across Kenya and southern Africa, populations have risen to over 6,000 as of 2022, an average upwards trend of 17% increase in population size over the past decade. According to IUCN, the black rhino population declined by a staggering 97.6% from 1960 to the 1990s, primarily as a result of poaching. There are three subspecies of the black rhino, the eastern, the southern, and the southwestern, with Ol Pejeta being home to the eastern rhino subspecies. The black rhino (Diceros bicornis) is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). ![]() Innovation – Mount Kenya Wildlife Estate.
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