Bleak Future Predicted for Black Rhinoceros Population
The black rhinoceros has already been hunted to extinction in many parts of Africa and now survives in only five countries namely Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Renewed poaching has threatened this recovery as rhinoceros horn has attained an unprecedented and steadily rising value. For the first time, an international team of researchers compared the genes of all living and extinct black rhinoceros populations and found a massive decline in genetic diversity, with 44 0f 64 genetic lineages no longer existing. “Now, the conservation authorities need to digest the information that we have put together to think about the next strategy and that’s a strategy that isn’t simply national in it’s view because a lot of these genetic groups could go across borders,” said Professor Mike Bruford from Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences.
Meanwhile, Namibia Wildlife Resort (NWR) Manager for Corporate Communications and Online Media Mufaro Nesongano said that potential tourists could opt from coming to Namibia if the situation of rhino poaching persists. “We have made it a point to sensitize our employees about the impact that poaching has to Namibia as a country and NWR as a company,” said Nesongano.
In this weeks episode of Spotlight News, we sat down with Professor Mike Bruford from Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences and Namibia Wildlife Resort (NWR) Manager for Corporate Communications and Online Media Mufaro Nesongano on:
- Extinctions,
- Genetic erosion,
- Conservation options for black rhinoceros,
- Hunting,
- Habitat loss,
- Genetic diversity,
- Populations of priority for conservation,
- Impact on tourism,
- Rhino poaching prevention strategies, etc.
https://soundcloud.com/99fm/spotlight-news-professor-mike-bruford-cardiff-university-school-of-biosciences
https://soundcloud.com/99fm/spotlight-news-mufaro-nesongano-nwr-communications-and-online-media-manager
-Maggie Forcelledo