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Foster, J.B., 1967. The square-lipped rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni (Lydekker)) in Uganda. East African Wildlife Journal 5: 167-171, fig. 1

  details
 
Location: Africa - Eastern Africa - Uganda
Subject: Distribution - Records
Species: White Rhino


Original text on this topic:
In an attempt to protect the population remaining in Uganda the Uganda GameDepartment, with the financial aid of the East African Wildlife Society and the World Wildlife Fund, established the Ajai's White Rhino Reserve at Inde, West Nile District. The Reserve contains about 60 rhino in 61 square miles (159 hectares).
The Reserve is located on the western side of the Albert Nile about 50 miles down the river from Lake Albert and includes the town of Inde (Figure 1). Vegetation communities include Echinochloa grassland in the swamps bordering the river, Combretum - Acacia - - Hyparrhenia savannah, and the post-cultivation community of Eragrostis - Chloris - Hyparrhenia on the better drained ground, and Combretum - Terminalia - Loudetia savannah on the summit of Biliba Hill. The presence of long grass in the Reserve often made it difficult to locate the rhino. However the chattering cries of the oxpeckers (Buphagus eryhrorhynchus (Stanley) ) who attend these animals frequently led to their detection.
Rangers at Inde report that the rhino were commonly seen in groups of a dozen or more, but since regular patrols of the Reserve were initiated, the concomitant disturbance has broken the herds into smaller groups. For this reason, patrols are now kept to a minimum.
The movements of the rhino within the Reserve are clearly correlated with the occurrence of rain. During the dry season the rhino descend into the Ala and Obei swamps bordering on the Albert Nile. At this time they are extremely difficult to observe except when they make their occasional wanderings onto higher ground. When the rains come the animals move inland at least 10 km, to the Biliba Ridge area in particular. Rhino trails, marked with dung heaps and mud wallows, are more commonly seen running inland from the swamps. Some border the bottom of the Ridge while others run diagonally up its side. After a short rain most fresh rhino footprints lead inland from the swamp, while after a dry period the trend is reversed.
The Uganda Game Department is presently keeping poaching to within reasonable limits. A greater danger is the growing population of the nearby tribes with their demand for land resulting in squatters moving into the Reserve. Provided the poachers and squatters can be kept in check it appears that this vigorously growing population may eventually outrun its food supply. Presently fire sweeps most of the grassland each year and contains the spread of bush. However there are areas which appear to be overgrazed thereby preventing burning which allows the bush to spread. Eventually it might become necessary to reduce some of the bush and tree cover to allow the return of the grass. At the same time any surplus population of rhinos could be used to populate other areas.

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