Black Rhinoceros

The black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) is a large, browsing herbivore native to eastern and southern Africa, distinguishable from the white rhinoceros by its pointed, prehensile upper lip, which it uses to grasp leaves, shoots, and thorny branches from shrubs and trees. Four recognized subspecies exist, of which one, the western black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis longipes), was declared extinct by the IUCN in 2011. Adults typically weigh between 800 and 1,400 kilograms and are largely solitary, occupying home ranges that vary considerably depending on habitat quality and water availability.

Black rhinoceroses play a meaningful role in shaping the woody vegetation of the savanna and bushveld landscapes they inhabit, with their browsing behavior helping to control shrub density in ways that benefit other species. The primary driver of their Critically Endangered status, as listed on the IUCN Red List, is poaching for their keratin horns, which are trafficked predominantly to markets in Asia. Habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and the historically catastrophic commercial hunting of the twentieth century reduced a population estimated at over 70,000 individuals in the 1960s to a low of approximately 2,410 by 1995, according to the IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group. Intensive conservation efforts have since brought numbers to an estimated 6,195 individuals as of the most recent IUCN assessment.