Why are black rhinos endangered?

The black rhinoceros which is scientifically known as Diceros bicornis, is usually found in eastern and central Africa including Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.  Some people want to know why Black rhinos endangered.

They are basically grey in color. The black rhinos have pointed lips whereas, white rhinos have square lips. They use their lips to pluck leaves and fruit from the branches. Except for females and their offspring, black rhinos are solitary. 

Their calves are always dependent; they can’t live on their own. Rhinos have sharp hearing and keen sense of smell.  Rhinos grow as much as 3 inches per year.  Black rhinos have two horns; the foremost one is more prominent than the other one. 

Females use their horns to protect their young ones, while male rhinos use them to battle attackers. An adult black rhino stands up to 180 cm high at the shoulder and is 9 to 12 feet in length. 

Rhinos use their horns for defending themselves, terrifying other animals and breaking branches. The black rhino is smaller in comparison to white rhino. The black rhinos are extremely aggressive.  The black rhinos are herbivores and eats leaves, bushes, etc.

It has been known to eat 220 species of plants.  Black rhinos can live upto 5 days without water.  Black rhinos use different forms of communication. They often use scent marking to identify the black rhinos. They have a very powerful hearing capacity. 

They have high sense of hearing and can detect sounds over vast distances.  Black rhinos can often be found in mud or water, where they cool themselves.  Black rhinos may reach the age of 40 to 50 years.  Their gestation period is between 419 to 478 days with an average interval of 2.5 to 3.5 years between calves. 

The black rhinos usually eat woody twigs and legumes and large variety of plant species. When water is available, they will drink water whole day long. But, during drought they can stay up to 5 days without water. There are four recognized sub species of black rhinos:  southern central black rhino; south western black rhino; east African black rhino and West African black rhino.

Black rhinos were previously found in vast ranges in sub-Saharan Africa.  European hunters are mainly responsible for the early decline of black rhinos. European people find rhinos to be the easy prey, and they kill them and eat them simply for their amusement. 

In Africa, people hunted black rhinos for their horns.  Poaching for black rhinos in Africa increased rapidly from the 1970s. This situation has increased threats over rhinos. These black rhinos have considered to be critically endangered due to hunting, poaching, and habitat loss. 

Due to change in habitat, the population of black rhinos has declined as they don’t get a safer place to dwell. The forests, swamps, plains, lakes continue to disappear because they are harvested for human consumption and to make way for roads, pipelines, etc. 

In 2007, the first ever documented case was presented which showed that the black rhino horns were used for traditional Chinese medicine. 

Several conservation programs are taking place in order to conserve the black rhinos as it has been considered critically endangered.  Several organizations are working with full effort in order to preserve the black rhinos.

These organizations are expanding existing protected areas and improving their management; establishing new protected areas; improving security monitoring to protect rhinos from poaching. 

Organizations are even promoting for managed wildlife based tourism experiences that will provide additional funding for conservation efforts. 

However, the question arises whether these conservation programs would be successful in reducing number of black rhinos from being killed and stop the hunters from hunting and poaching.