Black Rhino Extinction

According to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the West African black rhino (Diceros bicornis longpipes) appears to have become extinct.

"A mission to their last known habitat in northern Cameroon failed to find any rhinos or signs of their existence, " reports Richard Black for BBC NEWS.

"The sub-species (one of four) has declined in recent decades due primarily to poaching, which has also brought the northern white rhino close to extinction. In East and Southern Africa, numbers of related sub-species are rising with the use of effective protection measures. But after two decades of warnings, the western black rhino has apparently met its final end, according to the findings of an extensive expedition by three specialists earlier this year."

"They mounted 48 field missions, patrolling for 2,500km, working block by block," said Richard Emslie, scientific officer with the African rhino group in IUCN's Species Survival Commission.

The IUCN reports that another sub-species of rhino, the northern white, is also on the brink of extinction. Just four animals were found by ground and air surveys in its last refuge, the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For more information, please visit:
IUCN
IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species
BBC NEWS
Times Online UK
New York Times (story pertains to Javan rhino)

Photo credit: Hubert Planton