Millions were estimated to have lived at the turn of the century.
Only 11,000 survive today.
Over the past 50 million years, rhinocerotoids have been ?the most ecologically diverse and successful group of large herbivores' on the planet, according to paleontologist Donald Prothero of Occidental College in Los Angeles. Rhinoceros relatives have ranged in size from collie dog-sized creatures to great dinosaurian beasts the equal of five bull elephants. Since hominids gained their current dominance, however, the five remaining rhino species - Indian, javan, and Sumatran in Asia and black and white rhinos in Africa - have not fared well (BioScience 38: 740-744).
The rhino's greatest liability is its horn. In China, it has been long valued as a staple in folk medicines. In Yemen, it is carved into expensive dagger handles. Trade in rhino horn has been banned by international treaty for more than a decade, but the ban has done little to stem the animal's slaughter. A rhino sporting ten pounds of horn worth at least $20,000 in Taiwan is a tempting target for hunters in the earth's poorest regions. Most surviving rhino populations are small, heavily managed, and dependent on government-hired armed guards to save them from poachers.
Increasingly, these southern African nations are looking for ways to recoup the huge expense of managing their rhinos successfully. All three countries have accumulated massive stockpiles of horn from natural deaths in their herds and confiscations from poachers. In South Africa alone, the horn cache is growing at the rate of $1 million a year. Now those nations want to sell this horn to pay for the upkeep of the rhinos. Is there a way to open a highly controlled legal trade in horn that will help the rhino pay for its own conservation? Some proponents of controlled trade say the first step toward meeting this controversial goal is to have in place a foolproof method for identifying the geographic origin of any piece of horn brought to market. At a meeting in May sponsored by the San Diego Zoological Society, archaeologist Nikolaas van de Merwe told 300 rhino experts from around the world that he has succeeded in creating such a method.
