South-central Black Rhinoceros

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South-central Black Rhinoceros

Scientific classification

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

Trinomial name

Diceros bicornis minor
Drummond, 1876

The South-central Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis minor) is a subspecies of the Black Rhinoceros. Although it is the most numerous of the Black Rhino subspecies it is still listed as critically endangered by the IUCN red list. Like other Black Rhino subspecies it has a prehensile lip and lives in Savannah habitat.

1 Range
2 Population & Threats
3 References
4 External Links

[edit] Range

It once ranged from western and southern Tanzania through Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to the northern and eastern parts of South Africa. It also probably occurred in southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern Angola, and eastern Botswana. Today its stronghold is South Africa and to a lesser extent Zimbabwe, with smaller numbers remaining in Swaziland, and southern Tanzania. The south-central black rhino is now thought to be extinct in Botswana, Zambia, Angola and possibly also Mozambique. ^[1]

[edit] Population & Threats

The South-central Black Rhino population was at 9,090 in 1980 but due to a wave of illegal poaching for its horn their numbers decreased to 1,300 in 1995. In 2001 the population stood at 1,651. Over the last 50 years they have experienced a 90% decline in numbers. Threats toward the subspecies is mainly illegal poaching. Luckily the amount of poaching has decreased in recent years.