Rhinoceros, Kruger National Park

Yesterday, September 22, was World Rhinoceros Day, and I missed it 🙁 So, here, a day late, are my two best shots of Rhinoceros in the wild, taken at Kruger National Park last week. Both are White Rhino. It turns out that “white” is a mistake, an accident based on the fact that the Dutch name was “wide-lipped” which sounded a bit like “white”, and the name for the other South African Rhino was “hooked lipped” which sounded a bit like “black”. So this is, in reality, the Wide-lipped Rhinoceros, so named because its wide lips are adapted for eating grasses at ground level. The Black, or Hook-lipped, Rhinoceros has narrow lips adapted for plucking leaves from standing trees and brush. Grazer vs. Browser. But it is too late for that. They are forever Black and White. Besides these two “wild” Rhinos, I saw lots of Rhinos at Tshukudu Game Reserve, where they specialize in Rhino (Tshakudu means Rhinoceros in the local language). Unfortunately, due to heavy poaching, all the Rhinos at Tshakudu have to be dehorned for their own protection. Poaching is huge problem. Kruger National Park has enough Rhino horn in stock to flood the market for 20 years to come, but each year proposals to release it for sale, and so drive down the prices to levels where poaching will not be so attractive, are defeated. The logic is that they do not want to “expand” the existing market to the point where poaching is the only way to meet the demand after their stocks run out. Others argue that Rhino horn could be “farmed” in a way that would meet the demand and save most wild Rhinos. I am glad it is not a decision I have to make…but it is one that needs making. I can certainly see the logic of putting the poachers out of business. There are signs along the road to Kruger in South Africa, posed on the property of private game reserves, that say “Poachers will be Poached!” and the people at Tshakudu will tell you about running gun battles between their rangers and poachers as recently as the past few months. It is a serious problem, and, when added to habitat loss, is keeping the Rhino at the edge of disaster.

Rhinoceros, Kruger National Park

Sony RX10iii at 1200mm equivalent field of view (2x Clear Image Zoom). Neither Rhino was nearly as close as they look in the images. Program. ISO 100 and ISO 1000. Processed in Lightroom.