 Reference Base  Castration of a black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis minor |
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World |
| Subject: |
Morphology |
| Species: |
Black Rhino |
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The unilaterally earless adult black rhinoceros bull, as depicted (Fig.1) was caught in the Hluhluwe Nature Reserve and translocated to the Addo Elephant National Park during September 1977. Two other adult black rhino bulls with normal external ears made up the full consignment. They were introduced into Addo as breeding males in order to fill a vacancy which was left by the recent demise of the only adult bull in the Addo rhino population. Before this introduction the population consisted of 10 animals that were products of an introduction of seven black rhinos, in 1961 and 1962, from Kenya. These animals and their offsrping all had normal pinnae.
Uni- or bilateral aotus in the black rhino has been recorded from at least seven discrete populations in eastern and southern Africa, inter alia the Hluhluwe Game Rserve. It has been suggested by Goddard that a sex-linked genetic character might be responsible for this congenital deformity. In order to lessen the risk that this genetic character be introduced into Addo, it was decided to castrate this male.
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