World Rhino Day: Africa still needs to step up efforts to preserve the species

World Rhino Day is observed on September 22.

Across all five rhino species, there are fewer than 28,000 individuals left worldwide, the latest "State of the Rhino" report revealed.

Rhino poaching in Africa increased by 4% from 2022 to 2023. At least 586 African rhinos were poached last year.

They face a myriad of threats, including habitat loss.

But poaching remains the biggest threat, mainly due to the belief that rhino horns possess medicinal properties.

Philip Muruthi, vice president for species conservation at the African Wildlife Foundation, says rhinos are of cultural, social and economic benefit.

"Economically, rhinos are among the biggest attractors of tourists. They are among the Big Five. There are also reasons, social and cultural, why we want to maintain rhinos. Can you imagine an Africa without rhinos? Can you imagine an Africa where we are saying, we are telling our children, 'You know, we used to have this big animal, this is the picture.' What a shame. Our generation should really be looking at why we have borrowed these rhinos from the future generations."

He advocates for a multi-pronged approach, including campaigns to tame the demand for rhino horn, the use of modern technologies and community engagement to stress the ecological importance of rhinos.

Embalmed body of Sudan on display in Kenya

At the National Museums of Kenya stands the embalmed body of Sudan, the world-famous male northern white rhino and a symbol of hope in the fight against poaching.

Sudan, who won widespread affection with his listing as “The Most Eligible Bachelor in the World” on the Tinder dating app in a fundraising effort, was euthanized in 2018 at the age of 45, due to “age-related complications".

Sudan had been central to the ambitious effort to save the subspecies from extinction after decades of decimation by poachers, along with the two surviving females. One is his offspring, Najin, and the other her offspring, Fatu.

Sudan was the last of his kind to be born in the wild, in the country that is was namesake.

He was taken to a Czech zoo and then transferred to Kenya in 2009, along with the only other remaining northern white rhinos, the two females and a male who died in 2014.

After undergoing taxidermy where his body was preserved, it now stands at the museum on display, where it captures the hearts of many.

It was shipped from the Czech Republic to Kenya in March 2023.

Some scientists hope to preserve the northern white rhino subspecies using stored semen from Sudan and other dead rhinos.

Kenya's white rhino population grew from 380 in 1986 to 1,000 in 2023.

Philip Muruthi attributes that success largely to protective sanctuaries.

The International Rhino Foundation publishes a yearly report which documents current population estimates and trends.

Earlier this year, researchers said a less-endangered southern white rhino was impregnated through embryo transfer in the first successful use of the method.

Researchers created an embryo in a lab from an egg and sperm collected from rhinos and transferred into a southern white rhino surrogate mother at the Ol-Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

"For me, we should never even have to go there," says Muruthi. "Don't get the numbers to where it's very expensive to recover. And we are not even sure that it will happen.