population estimates - Diceros bicornis. Etosha NP, 140 Kaokoland, 20 Damaraland, 30
By 1961 numbers had increased to 300 in the Hluhluwe Game Reserve alone. However, the incredibly high population density of 1.1 animals per sq. km was probably excessive and a die-off of 15 per cent occurred over a four-month period in that year. To relieve local high densities a further 35 animals were removed from this reserve between 1961 and 1972, but the population continued to decline in a density dependent way, probably influenced by habitat changes resulting from other management procedures, chief of which was the removal of predominantly grazing animals from the area. This, it has been postulated, led to improved grassland conditions, giving rise to fires that were able to penetrate and reduce the size and density of the Acacia thickets which were the black rhino's optimum habitat. At present the Hluhluwe population is considered static but subject to a further decline if the habit continues to change to a more open wooded grassland. In the Umfolozi Gam Reserve and the corridor of state land linking it with Hluhluwe black rhino have increased slowly over the years, as has the population of the Mkuzi Game Reserve.
Recently the Board established another new population in the newly created Itala Nature Reserve in northern Natal.
In South West Africa/Namibia the black rhinoceros had probably come closest to extinction by 1966 when a census revealed that there were only 90 still permanently resident in the north-west corner of the territory, plus a few vagrants in the western Caprivi along the Kwando River which regularly crossed the Angola and Botswana borders. The Division of Nature Conservation and Tourism acted quickly, and in a well organised campaign from 1970 to 1972 captured 43 that were either threatened by poachers, posed a threat to farmers, or constituted isolated non-viable breeding units, and moved them to suitable habitats within the Etosha National Park. These animals settled down well and some have subsequently been moved from the western part of the park to suitable habitats around the historic fort at Namutoni on the eastern edge. While the black rhinoceros inside the Etosha Park are doing extremely well, with many calves and young animals recently seen, the animals outside are declining rapidly. The Kaokoveld rhinoceros, which, because of the complex political situation in South West Africa, fall outside the jurisdiction of the Nature Conservation Division, are particularly threatened by illegal hunters and there are probably no more than 20 left. Further south, in Damaraland. the situation is little better with reports of poaching on a large scale and estimates of no more than 30 animals left.
Plans are at present well advanced for introducing black rhino to the 2 Vosloo Kudu Reserve in the eastern Cape, on the west bank of the Great Fish River, a reserve controlled by the Provincial authorities. One section covering some 3000 ha of rolling hills, dense thickets and forested gorges with open up-lands - strongly reminiscent of the topography and vegetation of Hluhluwe Game Reserve - is being enclosed in a strong cable fence, and the introduction of two bulls and two cows from Zululand is expected later in 1979. This introduction should pose no undue taxonomic problems (for taxonomists) as the extinct Cape rhinoceros D. b. bicornis was recorded from Kommadagga some 120 km to the west, while D. b. minor was known from Transkei some 140 km to the east. The original black rhinoceros of this area would therefore very likely have fallen into the narrow zone of intergradation between the two forms.
In Natal small populations survived in the Umfolozi, Hluhluwe and Mkuzi Game Reserves and adjoining areas of Zululand, but numbers in 1930 were estimated at not more than 100.
After an absence of more than 100 years from the Cape Province, two groups of black rhinoceros were introduced to the Addo Elephant National Park in 1961 (one bull, one cow) and 1962 (two bulls, three cows).However these animals came from the Kiboko area of Kenya and so are placed in the subspecies D. b. michaeli. Their capture and transport to Addo was carried out most efficiently by Nick Carter, but their subsequent release into a small paddock was ill-conceived and resulted in fierce fighting and the deaths of three animals within three weeks. By 1977 twelve black rhino calves had been born at Addo, but four animals died as a direct consequence of their artificial living conditions. Release in June 1977 into a 4000-ha section of the park enclosed by the famous Armstrong elephant-proof fence relieved their crowded conditions but was unfortunately marred by a further tragedy when a cow and young cal were involved in an altercation with a group of Addo elephants and the calf died. At the end of September 1977 the National Parks Board released three black rhino bulls of the Zululand subspecies at Addo - a step that will be hotly debated by genetic conservationists and taxonomists for some time to come. They appear to have settled down well, and there have been no further conflicts with the elephants. There are now twelve at Addo, and with adequate space and food available their future at Addo seems assured. Whether in the future the mixing of the two subspecies will be held to be of great consequence remains to be seen. What is perhaps of greater importance now is to ensure that none of the progeny are allowed to contaminate pure D. b. minor populations.
The translocation of black rhino to the Ndumu Game Reserve, where the species had been exterminated, was successfully carried out by the Natal Parks Board. Animals were taken from the established game reserves, as well as ei that were a threat to human life and property on tribal land.
The last one in the Orange Free State the last one had been shot in 1842.
In 1971 the long-cherished hope of the National Parks Board of South Africa to re-establish the black rhinoceros in the Kruger National Park was realised with the translocation of 10 males and 10 females from Hluhluwe, supplemented in September 1972 by a gift from Rhodesia of 12 animals from the Zambez Valley. These were released in the area near Skukuza where the Natal animal had settled. Despite some losses - one cow died after a fight with hippopotamus, another was mauled by lions, one bull died after injuring a leg and two young animals died of botulism - the animals settled down well an calves have been seen regularly. In September 1977 two more cows arrive from Zululand, bringing the total to 34. This population is now well established between Skukuza and Pretoriuskop, and numbers are estimated at about 45. As both parent populations are placed by all authorities in the same subspecies, D. b. minor, there would appear to be no taxonomic objections to the mixing of the Rhodesian and Natal black rhinoceros (apart from objections to the mixing of the two gene pools).
population estimates - Diceros bicornis Hluhluwe 199 Umfolozi 60 Corridor 69 Mkuzi 60 Ndumu 25 iTala 9 Makatini Flats 1 Addo Elephant 12 Kruger 45 Total 480 End
In SWA/ Namibia, though isolated groups were still scattered around the country after 1900, the only viable populations were in the north-west corner of the territory in Kaokoland, Damaraland and the Otjovasandu area of what was to become the Etosha National Park.
By 1961 numbers had increased to 300 in the Hluhluwe Game Reserve alone. However, the incredibly high population density of 1.1 animals per sq. km was probably excessive and a die-off of 15 per cent occurred over a four-month period in that year.
