 Reference Base  Black and white rhino introduction in North-West Zimbabwe |
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| Location: |
Africa - Southern Africa - Zimbabwe |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
White Rhino |
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Ceratotherium simum. In April 1975 10 white rhino, five each from Matopos and Kyle National Parks, were translocated to Matetsi (Grobler et al., 1975; Tomlinson, 1977). One adult male, one adult female, two sub-adult males and six sub-adult females were released in the Kazuma Pan National Park (Figure 2). It was intended that the rhino be held in pens and then a boma (enclosure) until they had become acquainted with each other. This plan was abandoned when the rhino refused to feed and they were released in two groups according to their park of origin.
On release the rhino split up into groups of one to three individuals. These groups tended to reflect associations between individuals prior to translocation, although in one case a Kyle animal joined two from Matopos. The immediate post-release movements are shown in Figure 2. The adult male and two sub-adult females established themselves on the western boundary of the Kazuma Pan National Park adjacent to Botswana. As they tended to stray over the international border they were recaptured and relocated in the Zambezi National Park 35 km to the north-west of the release point, with the adult female who had walked there. One sub-adult male and one sub-adult female settled in the Safari Area, 22 km to the east of the release point. Two sub-adult females went 36 km to the southeast and roamed between the Safari Area and Hwange National Park. The remaining sub-adult male and sub-adult female were eventually found near Main Camp, Hwange National Park 130 km from the release point. Reported sigtings of white rhino in 1976 and 1977 showed that the two animals in the east of the Safari Area had returned to the west and established themselves in an area encompassing parts of Kazuma Pan National Park. Kazuma Forest and the Safari Area. They were occasionally seen with a large male thought to have come from Botswana. One other female rhino was seen on the Kazuma depression but there is some doubt as to her origin.
The four rhino in Zambezi Nadonal Park wandered extensively across the Safari Area in groups of varying composition. Their numbers were increased by the birth of a calf to the adult female in May 1976 and the arrival of two adult males, also thought to have come fom Botswana. The two Botswana males remained in the west while the four rhino plus off-spring eventually established a range across the centre of the northern of Matetsi. In the south, sightings were less frequent, but a pair of sub-adult rhino were seen periodically and thought to range widely across the southern end of the Safari Area and the north of Hwange National Park.
Records were very infrequent during the height of the war in 1978 and 1979, but by 1980 there were three more calves in the northern population. In April 1981 one adult female died from unknown causes. There are now 15 rhino in the north and 6 at Kazuma. The sex and age structure is five adult males, five adult females, two adults of undetermined sex, five sub-adults and four calves. Records for the southern areas are still fragmentary but suggest there are between two and four rhino that probably range between Matetsi and Hwange NP.
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