Western Black Rhinoceros

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iWestern Black Rhinoceros

Extinct

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Genus:	Diceros
Species:	D. bicornis
Subspecies:	D. b. longipes

Trinomial name

Diceros bicornis longipes
Zukowsky, 1949

The Western Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis longipes) or West African Black Rhinoceros is the rarest of the Black Rhino subspecies and on June 8th 2006 it was declared tentatively extinct. It was once widespread in the savanna of central-west Africa but declined from illegal poaching.

1 Description
2 Population and Decline
3 Resources
4 External links

[edit] Description

The Western Black Rhinoceros length was 10-12.5 feet long, a height of 4.5-5.5 feet and weight of 1750-3000 pounds. They had two horns, the first measuring 1.8 feet-4.4 feet and the second 1-22 inches. Like all Black Rhinos they were browsers and could be found on the savanna.

[edit] Population and Decline

The Western Black Rhinoceros was hunted heavily in the beginning of the 20th century but the population rose in the 1930's after preservation actions were taken. As the protection efforts declined over the years so did the number of Western Black Rhinos. By 1980 the population was in the hundreds. Poaching continued and by 2000 only an estimated 10 survived. In early 2006 an intensive survey of northern Cameroon (the last place they lived) was done and none were discovered. Upon this news the IUCN declared Diceros bicornis longipes tentatively extinct. The illegal poaching, limited anti-poaching efforts, failure of courts to hand down sentences to punish poachers and more all contributed to their demise. There is still a small hope of the subspecies continued existence, in that there may still be a small amount individuals left which may be rediscovered in the future (hence "tentatively" extinct) but the chance of this has been estimated as small.