The number of rhinos is slightly up but poaching has increased too

The rhinoceros population across the world has increased slightly but so have the killings, mostly in South Africa, as poaching fed by huge demand for rhino horns remains a top threat, according to a report published by the International Rhino Foundation ahead of World Rhino Day on September 22.

The rhinoceros population across the world has increased slightly but so have the killings, mostly in South Africa, as poaching fed by huge demand for rhino horns remains a top threat, conservationists said in a new report.

The number of white rhinos increased from 15,942 in 2022 to 17,464 in 2023, but the black and greater one-horned rhino stayed the same, according to the report published by the International Rhino Foundation ahead of World Rhino Day on September 22.

Another subspecies, the northern white rhino, is technically extinct with only two females being kept in a secure private conservancy in Kenya. A trial is ongoing to develop embryos in the lab from an egg and sperm previously collected from white rhinos and transferring it into a surrogate female black rhino.

A total of 586 rhinos were killed in Africa in 2023, most of them in South Africa, which has the highest population of rhinos at an estimated 16,056. The killings increased from 551 reported in 2022, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

With all five subspecies combined, there are just under 28,000 rhinos left in the world, from 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.

Rhinos face various environmental threats like habitat loss due to development and climate change. But poaching, based on the belief that their horns have medicinal uses, remains the top threat.

Philip Muruthi, the vice president for species conservation at the Africa Wildlife Foundation, said protection has played a big role in increasing rhino population. In Kenya, their numbers rose from 380 in 1986 to 1,000 last year, he said. “Why has that happened? Because the rhinos were brought into sanctuaries and were protected.”