![]() On the IUCN Red List, the white rhino is currently listed as near threatened, the Indian rhino as vulnerable, and the black, Sumatran, and Javan rhinoceros as critically endangered. The main threat is poaching, largely driven by an international demand for rhino horn, followed by habitat loss. Footnote 24 The future of most remaining rhino populations looks uncertain. Footnote 23 Two other rhino subspecies, the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus) and the western black rhinoceros ( Diceros bicornis longipes), probably also made their last headlines some years ago, when they were officially declared extinct in 2011. ![]() Since then, this last remnant population of wild northern white rhino has very likely gone extinct, and the last known male representing the subspecies-a famous rhino named Sudan-died in March 2018. When the rhino moved a leg, just slightly, huge muscles moved easily under its heavy skin like Volkswagens parking.” Footnote 21 Eventually, the rhino got their wind, “snapped to attention, turned away … and hurtled off across the plain like a nimble young tank.” Footnote 22 Footnote 20 “The sheer immensity of every part of it,” they wrote, “exercised a fearful magnetism on the mind. Footnote 19Īdams and Carwardine were able to admire a rare northern white rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum cottoni) at close range in Garamba National Park, in what was then Zaire, in 1989. ![]() Rhinoceroses are important from an ecological perspective, Footnote 18 iconic from a human perspective, and most of their populations have crashed. The three other species occur in Asia: the Indian or greater one-horned rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros unicornis), the Javan or lesser one-horned rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros sondaicus), and the Sumatran or hairy rhinoceros ( Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). Two of these occur in Africa: the white or square-lipped rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum)-the largest and currently most abundant rhino-and the black or hook-lipped rhinoceros ( Diceros bicornis). The focus here is on the five species of rhinoceros. They reflect, moreover, the notion that biodiversity conservation is a “common concern of mankind.” Footnote 13 It is no surprise then, that the scholarly literature is beginning to address the role of international wildlife law in the conservation of the largest carnivores Footnote 14 and several of the megaherbivores-mostly the African elephant ( Loxodonta africana) Footnote 15 and, to a lesser degree, rhinoceroses Footnote 16 and the hippopotamus. ![]() Footnote 12 Wildlife treaties recognize the transboundary nature of many wildlife populations and of some of the threats they face. Indeed, in the overall effort to stem and reverse the global biodiversity crisis, Footnote 10 law is a crucial instrument, Footnote 11 including international wildlife law. ![]() Footnote 7 A large number of scientists involved in large carnivore and large herbivore conservation have recently called for “omprehensive actions to save these iconic wildlife species,” and thus “help to curb an extinction process that appears to have begun with our ancestors in the late Pleistocene.” Footnote 8 In this call to arms, the potential role of international wildlife treaties is duly noted. Footnote 5 Crucially, most roles played by large herbivores “cannot be taken over or compensated for by smaller herbivores.” Footnote 6 These considerations apply particularly strongly to megaherbivores, eight species weighing in at over 1,000 kilograms, including both species of elephant, the hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius), and the five species of rhinoceros. Footnote 4 Large herbivores, for instance, are keystone species or “ecosystem engineers,” providing a food source for predators and scavengers, dispersing seeds, cycling nutrients, influencing fire regimes, and providing benefits to smaller herbivores and to birds, rodents, and insects, in addition to their direct benefits for people, i.e., as a food source or in connection with tourism. Footnote 2 For the world’s largest terrestrial carnivores (the 31 species weighing over 15 kg) and herbivores (the 74 species weighing over 100 kg), Footnote 3 studies confirm both the crucial role many of these species (used to) play in ecosystems and the very worrying conservation status of most of them. Footnote 1 Population trends for large-bodied species reflect their particular vulnerability. Scientists warn that human impacts are threatening to cause a sixth mass extinction event on the planet. ![]()
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