When the not-for-profit Malilangwe conservancy was founded in 1994, Zimbabwe's white and black rhinos had already been decimated. Black rhinos in particular had been hard hit by poachers. By 1998, the conservancy had imported 28 black and 28 white rhinos from South Africa and set out on a what might have seemed a quixotic bid to turn a vast tract of land degraded by cattle ranching into a sanctuary where native wildlife could flourish.
The vets clamp her ears with two pairs of forceps in the figure of a V, then uses surgical scissors to remove a triangular slice of the ear. A hairy wedge tumbles onto the rippled fold of skin above her shoulder blades. These "notchings" are a kind of code used to identify the rhinos at Malilangwe. Each notch corresponds to a number, depending on where it's positioned on the ear. Add them up and you get that rhino's unique ID.
Sarah is actively mapping the maternal lineage of all the rhinos in the park. Tracking them so closely has already revealed some surprises, like the fact black rhinos – often thought of as solitary and ill-tempered creatures – maintain close family bonds with their mothers into later life. Some bulls as old as eight have been observed visiting their mothers from time to time, she says. "They've got this reputation of being bad tempered and dangerous, and they are.
Last year, Sarah's theories were put to the test when 10 of Malilangwe's black rhinos were translocated to neighbouring Gonarezhou National Park. In the early 1980s, Gonarezhou was ground zero for poachers. The jewel in Zimbabwe's wildlife crown had its rhinos completely wiped out. In May 2021, the big move began. Malilangwe was one of three private parks who together translocated 29 rhinos to Gonarezhou. At 5,000 square kilometres, Gonarezhou is 10 times as big as Malilangwe and has the infrastructure and resources to handle an influx of rhinos.
Chinese medicine is the main black market problem. More needs to be done to save these animals.
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