 Reference Base  Mortality factors and breeding performance of translocate... |
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Brett, R.A., 1998. Mortality factors and breeding performance of translocated black rhinos in Kenya: 1984-1995. Pachyderm 26: 69-82, figs. 1-8, tables 1-2
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| Location: |
Africa - Eastern Africa - Kenya |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
Black Rhino |
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Without intensive management involving the continuous monitoring of population size and structure, and the periodic introduction and exchange of unrelated rhinos, most or all of the these populations are not viable in the long term. The recommendations of a Population and Habitat Viability Analysis provided the basis for the adoption of 20 rhinos as the minimum number of founders of new populations, the managed migration of one or two unrelated rhinos between populations per generation, and a short-term translocation programme to complete the minimum stocking of existing sanctuaries by the end of 1994.
Translocation was originally used in Kenya largely for the removal or rescue of individual rhinos from non-viable locations for subsequent introduction into protected areas. Over 100 black rhinos were translocated to reserves in Kenya between 1959 and 1984, all animals which had been captured in areas vulnerable to poaching and/or being occupied by human settlement. More than half of these rhinos were used to stock two small reserves (Nairobi National Park (114 km? ) and Solio ranch (56 km? ) with rhinos between 1963 and 1980. These populations prospered, and after 1986 each had substantial surplus numbers available for subsequent translocation and progressive stocking of newly developed sanctuaries, for which each had been such successful models. The Nairobi and Solio populations have now produced three and five times their respective founder populations (Table 1). Consequently, since 1984, most rhinos translocated have originated from these sanctuaries. Increasingly, the management of remaining wild populations for improved population performance is now based upon translocation between protected areas (KWS, 1993). The Kenya rhino programme has shown some success: between 1986 and 1990 rhino numbers in sanctuaries increased at approximately 5% annually.
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