In June 1996 nine black rhinos were translocated from Pilanesberg National Park to Madikwe Game Reserve - both protected areas are situated in the North West Province of South Africa. In October 1996 ten black rhinos were translocated from Umfolozi Game Reserve in Kwazulu-Natal to Madikwe Game Reserve. In August 1997 another five female black rhinos were introduced from the Umfolozi/ Hluhluwe Park in Kwazulu Natal. The North West Parks Board is committed to conserving black rhinos in its parks. Madikwe was recently established and considered to be ideal for black rhino introductions because of its large size and suitable rhino habitat. The management of Madikwe Game Reserve accepted that intense post release monitoring is essential for the long-term management of the black rhino population, and failures and successes must be documented for future reference to improve continuously our knowledge and efficiency with black rhino translocations. Names of individuals given in table Totolina; Hansa; Hughey; Buglehorn; 3 unnamed females, all died within one week of relase; Maoka; Champion; Tholo; George; Mpofu; Mmapinda; Kwezi; Zondo; Punana; Ester.
An interesting problem became apparent while collaring the rhinos. The neck size of a black rhino can change by up to 15cm depending on its posture at any one time. This needs to be taken into consideration when fitting any collar. Ideally the collar needs to be fitted snugly when the neck is at its minimum diameter. Some of the rhinos headpressed against the boma wall during the immobilisation phase when the collars where attached. When the animals headpressed the neck diameter was at its maximum, and this became apparent when the rhinos awoke and relaxed their necks, causing a tight fitting collar to become loose. The overall condition of the rhino also influences the diameter of the neck. In all cases the collars were loose with condition loss and fitted snugly after the condition improved. Based on these findings, it is questionable if fixed collars are at all ideal for rhino because of their varying neck diameter as discussed above.
