Black Rhinoceros skull, Campement de Tinga, Zakouma National Park, Chad
The last Western Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) was photographed in Zakouma in 1972, originally this subspecies would have been distributed from the west bank of the White Nile in the east, west as far as the area surrounding lake Chad, north-eastern Nigeria may have been the western limit of their range. Some distribution maps show Black Rhinos occurring further west, this is largely based on the fact that the 19th century German explorer Heinrich Barth who travel in the region west of Lake Chad and visited Timbuktu, reported that he had seen Black Rhino Spoor on the banks of the Niger River, no other convincing evidence has been found since then, so it is unclear if the species did occur between the Lake Chad and the Niger. At one time these rhinos were very common, the north of the Central African Republic once had one of the largest populations of Black Rhinos in Africa, political instability coupled with the huge demand for horns in Yemen to make traditional dagger handles, led to them being wiped out by poachers. Demand for horns in the Gulf States to make daggers has largely receded and been replaced by the demand from the Far East principally Vietnam where illegal horn is used as medicine or to make jewellery. After their disappearance from Chad and CAR, Western Black Rhinos survived in small numbers in Northern Cameroon, but inevitably these animals were also poached and in 2005, this subspecies was declared extinct.
This was not the end of the story for Black Rhinos in Zakouma, the park is managed by the NGO African Parks who took on Zakouma in 2010, they decided that they would try to reintroduce Black Rhinos, even though the western subspecies is gone forever. Three other Black Rhino subspecies survive, of these the so called South Central Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis minor) found in northern South Africa is the most common, so it was decided that six of these animals should be introduced to Zakouma in 2018, if the rhinos settled in well, then a year later they would be followed by a further group of six, and a third group the year after. Tragically four of the first six animals, for some reason failed to adapt to their new home and died from natural causes, they simply weren’t getting adequate nutrition from their new diet. The other rhinos, two cows named Goose and Bopa did not have this problem, have adapted well and are still thriving, but with no bull cannot breed, the introduction of the next group of six had to be put on hold whilst vets and scientists got to the bottom of why the four rhinos died. Then the pandemic hit, further delaying the next introduction, but fingers crossed the next group of six will arrive Dec 22, getting the reintroduction project back on track. They are now confident that they can keep future rhinos healthy, once the rhinos start to breed, they can repopulate Zakouma and nearby Siniaka-Minia the latter was created to protect the Western Black Rhino. Potentially the two parks could support a very significant population of rhinos, rhino reintroductions can be risky, but returning them to secure areas is the only way to keep the population growing, fortunately there are enough of these rhinos to be able to take the risk.
December 2023 update perhaps as a consequence of the pandemic or maybe other issues, the translocation of new rhinos did not take place in December 2022. However, 5 new rhinos have now just been moved to Zakouma, it was planned to move 6 but one of the bulls was thought to be suffering from depression and so he was rejected. As I understand it although the 5 new rhinos came from South Africa, they are in fact Eastern Blacks D. b, michaeli, so if my information is right, there are 2 D. b. minor and 5 D. b. michaeli rhinos in Zakouma, I guess AP decided that Chad is so far away from all other Black Rhino populations that they could mix 2 subspecies without any risk to the genetics of other rhino populations, I would surprised if it was just the case that they could not obtain more D, b, minor animals when they wanted them.
A further 13 will be brought in by 2025 if this latest move is a success, it is hoped that by delivering the rhinos in December, they will be better able to adapt than the last six that were brought in, in May. This will mean that there will be 20 Black Rhinos in Zakouma the ideal size for a new founder population. I hope that this will lead to the repopulation of Zakouma and Siniaka Minia.
Black Rhinoceros skull, Campement de Tinga, Zakouma National Park, Chad
The last Western Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) was photographed in Zakouma in 1972, originally this subspecies would have been distributed from the west bank of the White Nile in the east, west as far as the area surrounding lake Chad, north-eastern Nigeria may have been the western limit of their range. Some distribution maps show Black Rhinos occurring further west, this is largely based on the fact that the 19th century German explorer Heinrich Barth who travel in the region west of Lake Chad and visited Timbuktu, reported that he had seen Black Rhino Spoor on the banks of the Niger River, no other convincing evidence has been found since then, so it is unclear if the species did occur between the Lake Chad and the Niger. At one time these rhinos were very common, the north of the Central African Republic once had one of the largest populations of Black Rhinos in Africa, political instability coupled with the huge demand for horns in Yemen to make traditional dagger handles, led to them being wiped out by poachers. Demand for horns in the Gulf States to make daggers has largely receded and been replaced by the demand from the Far East principally Vietnam where illegal horn is used as medicine or to make jewellery. After their disappearance from Chad and CAR, Western Black Rhinos survived in small numbers in Northern Cameroon, but inevitably these animals were also poached and in 2005, this subspecies was declared extinct.
This was not the end of the story for Black Rhinos in Zakouma, the park is managed by the NGO African Parks who took on Zakouma in 2010, they decided that they would try to reintroduce Black Rhinos, even though the western subspecies is gone forever. Three other Black Rhino subspecies survive, of these the so called South Central Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis minor) found in northern South Africa is the most common, so it was decided that six of these animals should be introduced to Zakouma in 2018, if the rhinos settled in well, then a year later they would be followed by a further group of six, and a third group the year after. Tragically four of the first six animals, for some reason failed to adapt to their new home and died from natural causes, they simply weren’t getting adequate nutrition from their new diet. The other rhinos, two cows named Goose and Bopa did not have this problem, have adapted well and are still thriving, but with no bull cannot breed, the introduction of the next group of six had to be put on hold whilst vets and scientists got to the bottom of why the four rhinos died. Then the pandemic hit, further delaying the next introduction, but fingers crossed the next group of six will arrive Dec 22, getting the reintroduction project back on track. They are now confident that they can keep future rhinos healthy, once the rhinos start to breed, they can repopulate Zakouma and nearby Siniaka-Minia the latter was created to protect the Western Black Rhino. Potentially the two parks could support a very significant population of rhinos, rhino reintroductions can be risky, but returning them to secure areas is the only way to keep the population growing, fortunately there are enough of these rhinos to be able to take the risk.
December 2023 update perhaps as a consequence of the pandemic or maybe other issues, the translocation of new rhinos did not take place in December 2022. However, 5 new rhinos have now just been moved to Zakouma, it was planned to move 6 but one of the bulls was thought to be suffering from depression and so he was rejected. As I understand it although the 5 new rhinos came from South Africa, they are in fact Eastern Blacks D. b, michaeli, so if my information is right, there are 2 D. b. minor and 5 D. b. michaeli rhinos in Zakouma, I guess AP decided that Chad is so far away from all other Black Rhino populations that they could mix 2 subspecies without any risk to the genetics of other rhino populations, I would surprised if it was just the case that they could not obtain more D, b, minor animals when they wanted them.
A further 13 will be brought in by 2025 if this latest move is a success, it is hoped that by delivering the rhinos in December, they will be better able to adapt than the last six that were brought in, in May. This will mean that there will be 20 Black Rhinos in Zakouma the ideal size for a new founder population. I hope that this will lead to the repopulation of Zakouma and Siniaka Minia.