oct  03

White rhino ( Ceratotherium simum )

OCT 04

White rhino ( Ceratotherium simum )   OCT  21  2010

OCT  26

White rhino ( Ceratotherium simum )

rhino  OCT 31

oct 18

White rhino ( Ceratotherium simum )

OCT 20

1. White rhino ( Ceratotherium simum )
   

Endangered species

Top 10 Most Endangered Species on Earth

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The black rhinoceros has two horns, although occasionally a third small posterior horn is present. The anterior horn is longer than the posterior, averaging 50cm long. The species is distinguished from the white rhino by a prehensile upper lip (hence the alternative name of hook-lipped rhino),

WAR ON POACHING IN

SOUTH AFRICA

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GRAPHIC IMAGES - SO  BEWARE

the price of rhino horn to swell to 36,300 pounds ($55,700) a kilogramme, making it far more expensive than gold, according to the conservation group International Rhino Foundation. It said the typical adult rhino has about 7 kg (15.4 pounds) of horns, which would translate to about $40 million worth of value being taken by poachers in South Africa so far this year.

So far 124 rhinos have been poached this year, more than the 122 that were killed in all of 2009. This is a dramatic increase compared to 2007, when only 13 rhinos were lost.

"This is a war we plan on winning," David Mabunda, the head of South African National Parks, said in a statement.

This month, in a high profile case, a Vietnamese man was sentenced to 10 years in jail for trying to smuggle rhino horn, one of the harshest sentences ever given in the country.

in  REITVIEI NATURE RESERVE NEAR PRETORIA  S.A.

two  of their preserves  rhinos were killed by poachers

rangers decided to  DE-HORN the remaining  animals

to try and prevent future poaching

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Dear Zookeeper,
Can a rhinoceros grow its horn back?
—Heather

. This horn gives the wily rhino its handsome appearance and helps it forage for food, dig for water, and defend itself against other animals. There’s a down side to having such a cool horn, however: some people want to take it!

For centuries the rhino has been killed for its horn, and this has driven it nearly to extinction. The real story inside the rhinoceros horn is that it is made of keratin, the same stuff that hair and fingernails are made of.

So if you took a really big pair of nail clippers and cut off Mr. Nose Horn’s horn, it—like your fingernails—would grow back over time.

a rhino horn grows all through its life

a rhino horn grows at a rate of  -  1 to  3 inches a year

sept  22 -   great photo by  LYNMOR

Ep report November

We’ve noticed that Londoz has been allowing the group of five rhinos to move more freely around his territory. This is very strange behaviour. The group has three males that are scent marking in his territory by urinating and kicking their dung around. Natural behaviour would have been to chase the intruders out as soon as they displayed this sort of behaviour. We believe the reason for this to be quite a funny story. There is a very large female that moves with these three males and she seems to be quite aggressive. She is the same size as most male rhinos and every time that Londoz tries to rid these males off his territory, she would attack him. Even when she is in heat in his territory, she will not allow him to mount her. It seems that he’s very afraid of her! We still find Utah’s tracks in the mornings, proving that he was moving through our traversing area during the night, but that he has yet again managed to cross over before we got to see him. Shorthorn is spending a lot of time in Londoz’s territory and he is slowly, but surely, claiming small pieces of Londoz’s territory for himself. It will be interesting to see what happens between these two males in the year to come.

Ep Report October

The dry conditions have caused two males to move into Londoz’s territory to get to the water at Big Dam. The two invader males would always show submissive behaviour towards Londoz, but he still tried his best to chase them out of his territory. Shorthorn and Utah are both doing well. The breeding groups are moving around in search of good grazing, but we still see them on a regular basis

EP report August

I’m happy to report that the rhinos are doing well. The big males from the south and the one from the west have not been seen for most of the month. With the rain turning the grass a bit greener, there is no need for them to go out of their territories to find good grazing. Londoz has not had any territorial battles recently and once again it comes down to the availability of water and food that determines when and where we see him. We saw the female with her calf on a number of occasions. With the calf now being just over a year, she is very relaxed. We can stop right next to her now, as opposed to when the calf was younger. We found Utah’s tracks on most days and we even found him a few times! It’s strange how 90 percent of the time he moves through our traversing area at night and we always just miss him. It seems like Shorthorn wants to mate with the group of three cows, with no known results yet.

EP report July

We saw plenty of rhinos during July. A massive male that is starting to move into our traversing area from the west may cause a few problems for Utah, as this male is bigger than him. The male came from the west and has notches on his ear. This means that the Sabi Sand darted him at some stage and clipped his ear so that they can ID him at a quick glance and study his movements. Londoz is still king of the eastern sector, but he did have a run in with Shorthorn a little while ago. It was over before it really began, though. Shorthorn was in Londoz’s territory, so after receiving a large cut to his face he quickly ran north to his own territory. We have also been seeing the one female with her calf that I mentioned almost a year ago. He is now nearly half the size of his mother and in great condition. The two groups of five are all doing very well. They are using a very large area to try and meet their needs.

Ep report June

As always, one can rely on the dominant bulls to make their appearance and now that the water supplies are getting less, the bulls are staying closer to the permanent water holes. The females that are looking after their young will also stay close to the water. Londoz is usually moving around Big Dam or Seepline. Shorthorn’s territory is not so easy to pin down, as he moves around a lot more than Londoz. The last time we saw him he was nearly the same size as Londoz, so Londoz should keep an eye out as he might just have some competition in the very near future. Utah’s whereabouts is usually a mystery as well, as he will be here the one day and gone the next.

EP report May

We were lucky to see a lot of Utah during this month. Whilst doing bush clearing and road maintenance west of our airstrip, I came to realise that he is actually around more often than we initially thought. I saw him almost daily when I went out to work. Londoz has experienced no pressure from any other males for quite some time, but this might change now with the dry season coming up. Males usually try to expand their territories when the main waterholes dry up and start moving into other males’ territories. Shorthorn has shown interest in a female that arrived from the east. The female and her calf that stays around Red Dam have become more relaxed with the vehicles and we can get much closer to them than in the past. The calf now stands about one meter high at the shoulder.

Ep report April

We’ve been seeing a herd of seven to eight rhinos on a regular basis. The herd dynamics differ from one day to the next. Sometimes Londoz will be the dominant male in the herd and then at other times Shorthorn will be with them. The rest of the herd consists of three young bulls, a female and two of her calves. She is also sometimes joined by another female. It is lovely to see this herd grazing on one of the open areas.

               Three rhino crossing a road near Nkorho

                            pic by jacques venter

Ep report March

I am happy to report that the rhinos are doing very well. Londoz has been on the move this month with a new female who moved into his territory. She is a very large cow, almost the same size as Londoz! She’s not relaxed with our cars and will always run a few meters away from us. Utah is spending a lot of time around the lodge and he is starting to expand his territory just east of our lodge. He is fully grown now and looks better than ever. With him expanding his home territory, he might even challenge Londoz to a territorial fight. Shorthorn is still moving around the eastern sector and has the group of five rhinos staying in his territory most of the time, which makes things a lot less stressful on him. A rhino’s territory depends on how many males there are, how strong they are and how much food is available. For example, in the Sabi Sand there are not too many males, so the average size of a bull’s territory will be approximately eight square kilometres. There are a lot more bulls in the parks in Natal and therefore territorial claims will only be about two square kilometres.

Lets begin from the Nkoho ranger i am told: There are no resident bulls here except for Londoz which is down in the west and he moves between all the lodges in the western half..... Londoz is large male rhino with large front horn and possible loss of left eye

 An update from the Elephant plains Rangers .. taken from there monthly newsletter... The large bull that spent most of his time in the far south is now slowly moving into Londoz’s territory. This bull is very big and has particularly huge horns. I predict that, should he and Londoz get into a territorial fight, Londoz might just loose a piece of his territory! We don’t see too much of Utah these days, but every now and again he will make an appearance. Shorthorn might have to fight another bull for a bigger territory at some stage. He might even play the submissive game in Londoz’s territory. This will mean that whenever he encounters Londoz in his territory, he will have to place his head to the ground and make loud squealing sounds. This action will prove to Londoz that he accepts him as the superior male.

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                  Here is our first candidate to be i.d

This Large male rhino with an easily identifiable face was seen at nk on 13Th of the august 2008.. Currently waiting to check with rangers if he has been named yet ... Update: it is believed this rhino which i call scarface is named flop'n'drop ... he is regularly seen lurking near bbq's and is keen to chase chef wes of nkorho ...