As big and bad as they seem, Africa's famed black rhinoceroses are in trouble, having been pushed to the brink of extinction by a century of poaching, trophy hunting, and habitat loss. So it's heartening to hear that wildlife organizations in Kenya and the U.K. have begun releasing captive-bred black rhinos into the Kenyan wilds. As BBC News points out in a brief story and nifty video, the groups recently released a group of young rhinos into an area that only 30 years ago supported 20,000 animals, but now has fewer than 500 left. If managed well, a successful rhino recovery could provide a substantial boost to the country's tourism industry, bringing in hordes of camera-wielding visitors desperate for a snap of the most powerful-looking of the big four. And anyway, the black rhino is a pretty cool beast: they hang out alone and wallow until it's time to mate, they're vegetarians, and they only lash out when the feel threatened, unlike their jerky cousins, the hippos.
[Photo: BBC News]
Related Stories:
· Black Rhinos Released Into the Wild [BBC News]
· Safari Coverage [Jaunted]]]>