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| Location: |
Africa - Eastern Africa - Kenya |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
Black Rhino |
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The Aberdare National Park (ANP) was famous in the past for its very high density of rhinos. This was particularly true for the Salient, a 70 km? wedge-shaped area of forest stretching down the eastern Aberdare slopes and separated from the densely populated farmland by a moat and electric fence. The then warden, F.W. Woodley, in a personal comment, estimated the rhino population of the entire Park to be in the order of 450 during the early 1970s. Sadly, they have been decimated by poachers during the last decade. The 1982 ANP census counted 132 rhinos in the area and the present population is well under 50. It is possible that the Salient rhino population alone has been reduced by as much as 80 percent of its former level. We estimated a rhino population for the Salient of 30 in 1987, which agreed with the estimate by the ANP Rhino Surveillance 3 Unit. Approximately five more occurred in northern ANP.
Today, in spite of the dramatic decrease in rhino numbers, the ANP is probably the only National Park in Kenya with a genetically viable population of native black rhinos. How- ever, their numbers are already below the recommended threshold to minimize loss of genetic variability in a population.
Rhino Sightings at Forest Lodges
The Salient with its two forest lodges, the Ark and Treetops, is one of the best places in Kenya to watch black rhinos. The records of animals seen at the lodges' salt-licks have proved useful in providing information on long-term trends in animal populations of the area. Rhino sightings indicate a dramatic reduction in numbers, especially at Treetops where up to 1978 an average of eight to ten rhinos visited the salt-lick every night. From 1979 to the present there has been a steady decline of sightings. An average of 1.48 rhinos were seen at the salt-lick on 31% of the nights between July 1986 and June 1987. All these sightings correspond to a male and a cow with calf making regular visits.
The Ark and its surroundings hold the highest concentration of rhinos in the ANP. Trends of rhino sightings at the Ark are less clear-cut, with daily records oscillating but totalling nearly 1,000 a year. At least 20 rhinos are frequent visitors to its salt-lick. The Ark area may have acted as a refuge for rhinos moving from places where poaching was heavy. Such an inflow of new animals may have kept the Ark records relatively constant, masking any significant decline of the population as a whole.
Conclusions
Our study concluded that, in their present numbers, there is no reason to suppose that predators are detrimental to the rhinos and other herbivore populations in the Salient. Des- pite the high percentage of calves showing scars, no successful attack by hyenas on a newly-born rhino has ever been reported. Furthermore, since the end of the study there has been a remarkable decrease in hyena sightings throughout the Salient. The increase in the number of lions frequenting the Salient has been checked by limited control of trouble animals. It is uncertain whether culling of predators would enhance the survival rate of infant rhinos, a variable reasonably high in the Salient as proved by the cow-calf ratio recorded. The maintenance of the rhino population is most strongly related to poaching activity and its fate therefore lies with improving conservation. Resources allocated for the conservation of the species would be best directed towards antipoaching and security activities.
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Threats to Aberdare rhinos: predation versus poaching
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