BLACK RHINO

The Black Rhino

Africa's black rhino is a survivor in a world that seems determined to finish what the 20th century started. After losing 97% of their population to the rhinoceros horn trade between 1960 and 1995, black rhinos have been slowly crawling back — but the comeback is fragile. Today, only about 3,142 remain in the wild, scattered across the fragmented landscapes of eastern and southern Africa.

The black rhino isn't just a smaller version of its white cousin. It has a hooked upper lip perfectly evolved for browsing on trees and shrubs, a testament to millions of years of adaptation. These solitary creatures maintain large territories marked with dung piles, and while they're notoriously unpredictable and aggressive, that survival instinct is exactly what's needed right now.

The horn — made of keratin, the same protein in human fingernails — is what's killing them. In Vietnam and China, rhino horn is falsely believed to cure everything from hangovers to cancer, commanding prices higher than gold. Poachers with sophisticated weapons decimate populations in days. In 2023, rhino poaching reached its highest level in years, reversing hard-won gains.