The southern white rhino has two subspecies: the southern and northern white rhinos. Southern whites are slightly bigger and hairier than their northern counterparts. Both subspecies are gray in hue, despite the species name. “White” could be derived from the Afrikaans word for “wide,” referring to their large and square lips, which enable them to feed on grass.
Habitat And Personality
In the wild, they can live up to 35 years, and in captivity, they can live up to 40 years. White rhinos are semi-social and possessive of their territory. On the grassy plains, they form herds and mark their territory with cleverly placed dung piles. With their horns and massive proportions, the males actively protect their area. Males are more solitary than females, living on an average of one square mile of land, although females can cover nearly seven times as vast.
Mud is a favorite food of white rhinos. They’ll roll in it, cover themselves in it, and cover their children in it. They are kept cool by the damp mud, which also protects their skin from the sun and insects.
Here comes the exciting news from Raman Gan. The Southern White Rhino has delivered its 3rd baby.
The Raman Gan has declared that Rihanna had delivered a healthy male calf on Sunday and that the son and mother both were doing well.
Rihanna, 11 years old, is named after an R & B singer. The gestation period of rhinoceros is about one and a half years.
A few years back (5 years), when Rihanna gave birth to Rami & Rainy-Rafiki after two years of the first one, it’s time to welcome another member of the family. And it’s a male one!
The Safari Sayings: Southern White Rhino
The very next day of the delivery, the safari said that they had received various suggestions of Calf’s name from the public. The committee had decided on “Ruvi” – the pet name of Reuven Rivlin (outgoing President).
Unlike the Israeli 10th president, the rhino Ruvi is unique, rare and likewise puts a smile on those faces who greet him, “the safari also stated in their statement that Rivlin’s name is usually a sense of humor and cheerful demeanor.
The safari also announced that Ruvi would be sent to another zoological park to help multiply the population of the square-lipped rhino.
Warm Wishes Of President Rivlin: Southern White Rhino
Rivlin, too, is grateful to the safari for the great honor and similarly wished the newly born Calf a “wonderful life, loving visitors, full of happiness. “
The Southern White Rhino, popularly called square-lipped rhinoceros, are on the verge of becoming extinct. The safari, whose herd is more significant than any herd in Europe, has witnessed 33 white rhinos that are being born. Atari, the father of the Calf, has been making his efforts for the species, having fatherly calves with Tendra, Keren Peles, and Rihanna.
Existential Dangers
Southern white rhinos were assumed to be extinct in the late 1800s until a small group of less than a hundred was discovered in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, in 1895. There are 19,600-21,000 southern white rhinos in protected areas and private game reserves, mainly in South Africa, after a century of conservation efforts. They’ve been downgraded to near-threatened status. Their resurgence is hailed as a significant conservation victory.
One of the most severe threats to white rhinos is poaching for their horns. Their horns are prized in Asia, particularly in Vietnam and China, where they are used in traditional medicine and artistic sculptures. Rhino horn goods are trendy among wealthy businesspeople who want to show off their wealth and social position by purchasing something rare and prohibited.
Poaching reduced the population of white rhinos by 15% between 2012 and 2017, primarily due to poaching. Well-organized criminal gangs mainly carry out poaching and the illegal trade of rhino horns. The majority of southern white rhinos dwell in South Africa, which has experienced a rhino poaching issue. Although the number of incidents is decreasing, experts remain cautious.The southern white rhino is also threatened by human development and habitat loss.
Conservation
Since 1977, the Convention on International Trading in Endangered Species (CITES), a global treaty, has prohibited international commerce in rhino horn, and national governments have usually forbidden domestic trade.
Scientists, economists, government officials, and others debate whether permitting international trade once more might help reduce poaching. Attempts to do so, however, have so far been unsuccessful. On the other hand, South Africa decided in 2017 to allow the purchasing and trading of horns within the country. However, there is a limited market for rhino horn in South Africa, prompting concerns that the legal domestic trade will facilitate illicit overseas traffic.
Many southern white rhinos are kept on rhino farms in South Africa, where they are utilized for commercial breeding, photographic tourism, legal hunting, and horn production. One of the causes for the recovery of southern white rhino numbers is breeding on rhino ranches. Owners of rhinos are likewise on the front lines of poaching, spending large sums of money on private security to protect their herds each year. Owners claim that a regulated rhino horn trade would give them the funds they need to keep fighting poachers.
People have tried various inventive methods to safeguard rhinos from poachers, including putting poison into the rhinos’ horns (which would not damage the rhino but might deter purchasers) and injecting horns with dye. However, neither seems to have worked. To prevent poachers, some rhinos get their horns removed—horn is similar to fingernails in that it can be trimmed down without causing pain. Many economists argue that stopping the illegal trade is more complicated than just flooding the market with fake rhino horns to lower the value of horns and reduce the incentive to poach.
To assist reduce poaching; better law enforcement is needed in supply and demand countries and demand-reduction programs to persuade people not to acquire southern white rhino horns.
