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| Location: |
World |
| Subject: |
History |
| Species: |
White Rhino |
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Several indication in travel journals have given the possibility of the existence of the white rhinoceros in the White Nile region. But only in 1900 the first skull with exactly known origin was reported in Europe (from where it went to USA) by Major Gibbons: that skull belonged to an animal killed in the neighbourhood of Lado.
In 1902, captain Hawker brought to England a horn of a white rhinoceros which he had received from Belgian officers in Lado, after which Sclater (1903) reported that 'the Belgians do not distinguish the common Rhinoceros bicornis and seem to believe that all the rhinos belong to a single species.' In fact, it is rather extraordinary that the existence of a species som obviously different from the common black rhinoceros could have remained unnoticed in this region, especially as it was relatively often visited.
In the same year 1903, Scherren noticed that the species was common in the northern parts of Congo (obviously meaning the country of Lado) and adjacent parts of Sudan, and that several english sportsmen had horns from this region.
In 1908, Major Powell Cotton, gave to the British Museum the skull of a white rhinoceros which he killed in Lado. Basing himself on this skull, the curator in London, Mr. Lydekker established a special subspecies with the name cottoni.
Since that time, several sportsmen have brought back to Europe specimens of Rhinoceros simus Cottoni, mainly from Lado, where the animal is still quite abundant. Unfortunately, the frequent hunts - or to speak with Berger, the game massacres (wildschlachtereien) - in this region have already taken many specimens and it may not take long before this northern race will be as rare as the typical white rhino in South Africa.
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Le rhinoceros blanc
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