Du Toit, R., 1994. Management of black rhino in Zimbabwean conservancies: pp. 95-99
 | In: Penzhorn, B.L. et al. Proceedings of a symposium on rhinos as game ranch animals. Onderstepoort, Republic of South Africa, 9-10 September 1994: pp. i-iv, 1-242 |
|
|
|
|
| |
| Location: |
Africa - Southern Africa - Zimbabwe |
| Subject: |
Translocation - Methods |
| Species: |
Black Rhino |
 |
|
Diceros bicornis in Zimbabwe. The introduction of the rhinos was accompanied by an unacceptably high mortality rate. Monitoring of the rhinos has not always been adequate, so the stage at which some rhinos died is not known with certainty. However, it appears that the overall mortality rate within the first three months of translocation has been about 15 %. The loss of rhinos during this phase has been particularly severe in the Midlands area. Reasons for these mortalities include the following:
- Difficulties in habitat adjustment experienced by rhinos which were moved from the and entropic Lowveld (sweetveld) areas to dystrophic sandveld (sourveld) areas, such as the Midlands.
- Capture of rhinos at the time of the year when it suited the capture units rather than the rhinos. Most operations were undertaken in the mid-late dry season, when browse resources were most limited and the rhinos were therefore in poorest condition; the rhinos faced added nutritional problems when moved to habitats that they were not familiar with and where they could not find an adequate range of palatable, non-toxic browse species.
- Poor boma management on the part of several landowners, particularly with regard to their failure to provide rhinos with a sufficient quantity and diversity of fresh browse.
- Traumatic nasal damage suffered by a high proportion of rhinos which knocked their horns off or which were young rhinos, with relatively fragile nasal bones, who fractured these bones by bashing their crates or bomas. These problems have been reduced by dehorning and by the administration of long-acting tranquilizers.
- Exposure of a group of rhinos to creosote in a rhino holding facility near Harare, which was constructed of treated poles; this negligence appears to have led to serious liver lesions and to have precipitated haemolytic anaemia crises in at least four rhinos which subsequently died on private land.
- lntraspecies fighting in some situations where males were added to areas where previously introduced males had already established home ranges.
|
|
|
Management of black rhino in Zimbabwean conservancies
File available
details
Original text on this topic: