Africa's big mammal populations drop 59% in 40 years!

African elephants in Kruger National Park. Photo: Sally Kneidel

Just saw a distressing news item.  In an interview published 1/27/11, scientist Ian Craigie says populations of big mammals in Africa have decreased 59% in 40 years. And those figures are only from protected areas such as national parks. If unprotected areas were included in the study, the percent would probably be much higher.  Craigie is a zoologist (University of Cambridge) and former employee of South Africa National Parks.

Craigie says the primary causes of the decline are agriculture, hunting and the bushmeat trade. But all are due to human actions and Africa's population explosion. Africa's human population has increased 5-fold since WWII. The additional human population has moved into cultivated areas that were previously wildlife habitat, leading to widespread habitat destruction.

I might add (my words, not Craigie's) that deforestation for agriculture and timber has increased access to previously secluded or inaccessible wildlife.  Modern weaponry has also increased the ease of killing large numbers of animals for commercial trade as bushmeat or traditional medicine.

White rhino in an African national park. Photo: Sally Kneidel

Craigie says that Southern Africa is better off than West Africa or East Africa because the parks in Southern Africa have better funding and the human population is less dense.

West Africa has the most serious wildlife problem of the three regions because of the strong tradition of hunting for bushmeat, the countries are poorer, and the human population density is high.

What's the solution? Increase funding for programs to help communities develop livelihoods that depend on protecting wildlife (such as ecotourism) rather than over-harvesting and destroying their greatest resource (wildlife) and their greatest potential for income.  These are my words, not Craigie's.  Americans alone spend 12 billion dollars per year on ecotourism in Africa.

Keywords: Africa wildlife big mammals elephants rhinos poaching hunting bushmeat population growth deforestation habitat loss 59% loss in 40 years Ian Craigie

 

Baboons are Africa's most widespread primate. Females rule!

This post now a Google News Link and on www.basilandspice.com.

Chacma baboons on the road outside Skukusa in Kruger National Park, South Africa.  Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

The first time we saw baboons, they were all over the road; the males had two-inch-long fangs. Scary? No, baboons are cool. Even though they can be aggressive, for the most part they totally ignore human onlookers. Unless you have food they want....

To me, monkeys and apes bridge the gap from animal to human. Their behavior is in many ways similar to ours, but it seems so unhampered by civility. I love them for that.  In my view, they represent our own animal nature.

I fell in love with chimps in grad school, trying to teach them American Sign Language. But the chimps really did scare me. They have big teeth too. And just like human teenagers, chimps will test authority when forced to sit for lessons. They tested me during the language sessions, "accidentally" running into me and trying to bite me, sometimes succeeding. (See my previous post about the chimps and ASL.) I gave up on teaching chimps to behave like humans, and fled to the relative simplicity of studying salamanders in the field.

But I never lost my fascination with primates. This past summer I had the joy of 4 weeks in South Africa, where we saw several primate species - vervet monkeys, lesser bushbabies, thick-tailed bushbabies, and most of all, Chacma baboons.

 An adult Chacma baboon, with its long doglike face. Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

Baboons are the most widespread primate in Africa.
The range of some baboon species has even expanded, in spite of widespread deforestation, overgrazing, and habitat destruction. The range expansion is due to the local extinction of their predators (especially leopards),

Leopard in South Africa.  Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

and because baboons are so adaptable in their eating habits. Chacmas can forage equally well on trees or grasses, on farmland or savannas, can get most of the water they need from their food.

 A young baboon eating leaves. Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

 Young baboons eating sausage fruits that fall from trees in southern Africa. Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

Baboons are clever; they can dig to reach water
Chacma baboons can even dig shallow wells in dry streambeds, which most animals don't do. When grasses are dry, baboons just dig up the juicier roots. They will eat almost any small animal they can catch, from fish and bird eggs to young antelope. In South Africa, Chacma baboons are a major predator of young goats and sheep.

I said that primate behavior is unhampered, but that's not really true.  According to biologist Richard D. Estes, a baboon troop is one of the most complex societies in the animal kingdom. And complexity means structure. Females and their offspring are the core of the troop, with females outnumbering males 2 or 3 to 1. The female Chacmas spend their whole lives in the troop where they were born, where they compete to attain and maintain dominance. Female rank-order is family-based: daughters inherit their mother's rank.

A female Chacma baboon with her infant and two youngsters. The older ones may be her own, or they may be others just interested in holding her baby. Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

Baboons' matrilineal society is complicated
Dominance relationships between matrilines are managed by alliances and by communication that's nearly as complex as that of the great apes, according to Dr. Estes.(A matriline is a line of females linked by maternal descent.)

Males in the troop are subordinate to their mothers until the age of four, when their dangerous fangs develop and they leave the troop. The males may try out several troops before settling in one, at least temporarily. Males grow much larger than females, and can weigh as much as 100 lbs. The upper limit of female weight is about 60 lbs.

A male Chacma baboon displays his genitals as a signal of his maturity and social rank or dominance. Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

Males play "godfather" roles
After transferring to a new troop, a male is better off if he cultivates a social bond with a mature female. Estes says that a male may play a "godfather" role to her offspring, even though he is not their father. He holds and carries them, shares food with them, grooms them. Social grooming is a major pastime for baboons, and a major bonding activity.

 Social grooming of the head is common.The recipient above seems to enjoy it! Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

Grooming of the hind-end is common too. I think they're looking for fleas and ticks, but I'm not sure. Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

A male "godfather" will also protect his female friend from attack and protect her young from bullies. So lots of Chacma females have one to three male friends that they roost with at night. (Chacmas generally roost in trees, where they're safer from predators.) When the female comes into estrus, one or more of these favorites, or "godfathers", usually becomes her consort.

During estrus, the sexual skin of a female is swollen and pink, as in the female at right, above. The degree of swelling and redness signals how close she is to ovulation.  Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

Black-haired infants are magnets
Low-ranking females especially benefit from having male friends to protect their babies. All Chacma baboons are attracted to black-haired infants and a dominant female can hold and play with the infant of a subordinate mother, regardless of how much distress it causes the mom or the infant. But a male "godfather" will put an end to that, even though the youngster is not his own offspring. The males' larger size, and their fangs, make them excellent defenders.

Above, a newborn infant, with the black hair that all Chacmas find so attractive in infants.  Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

Above, a Cape Chacma mother nursing her black-haired infant, with her older youngster alongside. The Cape Chacma baboons are a different subspecies found only at the southern tip of Africa.  It's thought that the isolated population of Cape Chacmas will be extinct in 10 years. Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

The same mother grooming her older offspring, with her black-haired infant clinging to its sibling. Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

A black-haired infant is such a powerful attractant for Chacma baboons that "a lower-ranking male can safely threaten and even dominate a higher-ranking one by holding out a black infant - it completely inhibits the others's attack tendencies."  So writes Richared Estes in his very useful book, The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals. Estes is a research associate of the Smithsonian Institute, an associate of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and co-chairman of the World Conservation Unions's Antelope Specialists Group.

Almost all primates are now in danger
Virtually all the world's primates now are threatened by loss of habitat, by capture for the pet trade, for research labs, and for traditional medicines. Snaring or shooting primates and other species for bushmeat is a growing problem in impoverished areas. Most primates live short lives; very few die of old age. The Chacma is considered to be potentially threatened under C.I.T.E.S Appendix 2, if populations are not managed.

Some Chacma baboon troops forage in human neighborhoods, overturning garbage cans and entering homes looking for food. When food is in question, baboons can be aggressive and dangerous. And when they become pests to families, farmers, or herders, baboons and other wildlife are often poisoned.

 

A young baboon foraging in northern Kruger National Park, South Africa. Photo by Sally Kneidel, PhD

What can you do?
When visiting an area with primates, never feed them, even if you see others doing so. Feeding them endangers their health and the safety of the entire troop. Baboons that associate humans with food can behave so aggressively that they're likely to be killed. Consider making donations to conservation organizations that protect habitat or protect primates directly, such as the Jane Goodall Institute, Traffic, World Wildlife Fund,  African Conservation Foundation, and Conservation International. Or support impoverished communities in areas where primates live. People with other opportunities to support their families are less likely to snare and sell wildlife.

Sources:
Richard D. Estes. The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals.1997.

Bill Branch et al. Travellers' Wildlife Guides: Southern Africa. 2007.

My previous posts about wild, enchanting Africa: wildlife, indigenous villages, health, climate change, and ecotourism:

Famous ice caps of Kilimanjaro gone by 2022.  12/17/2009

Budding scientists assess the tiny critters of Africa 11/11/2009

New studies confirm that circumcision saves lives in Africa  10/28/2009

My visit to a traditional healer in Africa: "Call on your female ancestors" 9/28/2009

Seeing myself....in the eyes of a monkey 9/8/2009

A sustainable, locally run, and off-the-grid resort in South Africa; great for birding 8/26/2009

With a chain-saw, he cut off the rhino's valuable horn 8/15/2009

Leopard adventure: male and female clash over prey 8/4/2009

We were lucky to see lions on a kill. But are lions disappearing from Africa? 7/30/2009

In the Africa village of Hamakuya, we learned about life with limited resources. 7/24/2009

Female hyenas, all hermaphrodites, bully male hyenas and steal prey from lions. 7/17/2009

African village of Welverdiend believes in the power of good. 7/10/2009

Pope values religious dogma over African lives?  3/18/2009

Ecotourism can buffer the effects of poverty. 10/20/2008

Can a warmer planet feed us? 6/14/2008

Environmental footprints of rich nations outweigh debt 3/21/08

Violence in Darfur fueled by global warming. 11/2007

Breastfeeding gets a new review in sub-Saharan Africa. 10/25/2007

An African village seeking solutions. 8/26/2007

Plan to spend a day in the African village of Welverdiend 8/6/2007

The luminous, magical continent.  7/19/2007

Back from Africa; elephants may be culled.  7/13/2007

One African family struggles to survive  3/17/2007

Key words:: Chacma baboons primates South Africa Kruger National Park loss of habitat endangered threatened impoverished communities conservation pet trade research trade poisoning bushmeat traditional medicine

New studies confirm that circumcision saves lives in Africa

 The Swazi chief in the center, surrounded by her family and, on the far right, our friend Sonny

I was intrigued by a story I saw in Science News recently about circumcision and its effect on HIV. Africa has been impacted by HIV more than any other continent. In 2007 and 2009, my husband and I were in South Africa and Swaziland, two of the hardest hit countries. We had the priviledge of visiting the chief of a rural village in Swaziland.  We were welcomed into her family's small round hut with its earthen floor, along with our friend Sonny who lives and works nearby. I asked the chief, with Sonny as translator, how Swazi life had changed during her lifetime (the chief was an older woman). She wouldn't say much, except how the younger generation won't eat traditional foods any more, wanting junk food instead. But as we were leaving, she stopped us outdoors and asked us to pray for her village. She asked us to pray that someone will find a solution to HIV, which is devastating her village and her country.  The sad look of hopelessness on her face haunted me as I read the Science News article last week.

In Swaziland, 22% of adults are infected with HIV. Life expectancy used to be 57 years; now it's 31 years. In the year 2007 alone, 10,000 Swazis died of AIDS.  The country has 56,000 AIDS orphans.  And so on....you get the picture.  In South Africa, the impact of AIDS has been so great that the country's population has stopped the rapid expansion characteristic of most African countries. Life expectancy in 1995 was 64; in 2005 it was 49. See International Data Base (IDB) for more population data.

So what's being done?  As far as research, some big strides have been made, and some of that research has to do with protection offered by circumcision.

In humans, the three most common sexually-transmitted viral diseases are HIV, genital herpes, and HPV (human papillomavirus). All three are incurable.

But all three are are less likely to be transmitted when a male is circumcised.

Earlier studies have shown that male circumcision reduces the risk of acquiring HIV by up to 60%.

Another article, published this year in the New England Journal of Medicine, reports that circumcision also provides partial protection against both genital herpes and HPV. This study, funded by Bill & Melinda Gates and the NIAID, involved 3,393 Ugandan males ranging in age from 15 to 49, all of whom wanted to be circumcised and none of whom had herpes. Half the males were circumcised right away, and half had the procedure deferred for two years. After the two years, the earlier-circumcised volunteers were 1/4 less likely to have genital herpes and 1/3 less likely to have a dangerous form of HPV. Because circumcision provided only partial protection, the researchers cautioned that it "should not be considered a full shield."

Even so, the partial protection could have a major public health benefit, says the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Human herpes ulcers make a man more vulnerable to HIV infection. Dr. Fauci says that circumcision not only reduces the incidence of HIV infection outright, but by protecting against genital herpes, circumcision increases the protection against HIV infection.  This is a significant finding: in Kenya, where 4/5 of the people infected with HIV are also infected with genital herpes, says Dr. Robert Bailey of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Although much of the research centers on protection of men, women benefit too. Yet another study in South Africa reports that circumcised men are 1/3 less likely to have a dangerous form of HPV that can cause cervical cancer when transmitted to female partners.

A research team in Kenya is nearing publication of their study of circumcision's effect on STDs. One scientist in the research team has said the results show similar effects to the already published studies.

An Overwhelming Game Changer

Says Dr. Judith Wasserheit of the University of Washington, "I think this trio of trials is certainly a landmark in prevention, not only of HIV but of these other sexually transmited infections. These new data really are a game changer."

Dr. Thomas Quinn of Johns Hopkins University says that the medical evidence of long-term benefits to male circumcision "is now overwhelming."

Good News, But Is It Being Used?

Unfortunately, this information is so far having little effect on the transmission of these diseases in Africa.  According to www.avert.org, an international AIDS nonprofit, "only one clinic in South Africa currently offers free male circumcisions, with public facilities only offering the service for medical reasons. The government is reviewing evidence on circumcision, but has yet to issue further guidance on the practice."

One hindrance toward progress in South Africa is the amazing quantity of misinformation among the general public about the transmission of HIV.  While in Johannesburg, we read an editorial in the city's major newpaper about the common folklore regarding how a man can determine whether he has HIV or not. If he has sex with a virgin and she does not become infected, then he can assume he is uninfected himself.  If he has sex with a virgin, and she does become infected, then she must be a witch. I hate to relay such nonsense about a country I love passionately, but every country has its own damaging dogma. My sympathy in this situation lies with the young girl who's used as meaningless litmus paper, and perhaps paying with her life.

Some of the schools we visited in South Africa showed us herb gardens where they're growing herbs to prevent or treat HIV. Beet root has been a well-known "cure" in the country for years, even promoted as such by the government in earlier years.  I'm not aware that any herbs or plants offer protection against this disease.

My hope is that Bill & Melinda Gates or NIAID will invest some of their billions into building free circumcision clinics and distributing information about real-life diagnosis and protection - as well as promoting development and distribution of the promising new vaccine, which appears to offer protection to 1/3 of those who receive it (see NY Times article cited below).

And if you're wondering whether to circumcise your own newborn son, it appears that doing so could offer him some protection against some STDs. Although condoms could most likely provide a higher degree of protection, without the cutting that some object to.

Sources:
1. Nathan Seppa. "Many benefits to circumcision: Operation in males fends off three common viral STDs." Science News, April 25, 2009.

2. Nathan Seppa  "Defense Mechanism: Circumcision averts some HIV infections."  Science News,  October 29, 2005. 

3. Aaron, A.L. et al. "Male Circumcision for the Prevention of HSV-2 nad HPV Infections and Syphilis." New England Journal of Medicine, March 26, 2009.


4. Averting HIV and AIDS. "HIV and AIDS in South Africa." http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm

5. Donald G. McNeil Jr. "For First Time, AIDS Vaccine Shows Some Success," New York Times, Sept. 24, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/health/research/25aids.html

6. International Data Base.  http://www.census.gov

Key words:: circumcision HIV AIDS Africa Swaziland STDs

My visit to a traditional healer in Africa: "Call on your female ancestors"

All text and photos by Sally Kneidel, PhD, of sallykneidel.com

Caiphus - a medicine man I consulted with in the African village of Welverdiend. This photo is with his little daughter, Queen, in front of his home in June 2009.

The village of Welverdiend, South Africa, is one of my favorite places in the world. I've never met a more positive, forward-thinking group of people, determined to bring about progressive change. In the two and a half years since I've known them, they've faced some daunting challenges, such as unemployment and vanishing natural resources, but have come up with solutions I would never have dreamed of. Ken and I were stunned when we learned what they've accomplished.

Ken and I first visited Welverdiend in 2007, at the advice of Dr. Laurence Kruger who directs an ecology program in Kruger National Park, and Dr. Wayne Twine who studies resource use by villages just outside of Kruger Park. Welverdiend is one of the villages Twine studies. During our first visit, I was enthralled by the conversations we had in Welverdiend - how willing the villagers were to talk frankly about their difficulties with diminishing fuel wood, diminishing river sand for bricks (due to drought), damage to crops and livestock by elephants and lions, etc. For people like myself who are curious about lives that are different from our own, Welverdiend is a hot spot of interest. If you visit, you'll come away inspired and enlightened. Or at least I did. Click here and here to see my stories and pictures from our first visit in 2007. Click here for the pics and story of our June 2009 visit. What a wonderful group of people!

But what I really wanted to write about today was one of the most interesting parts of the visit, both years. That was visiting the sangoma, or medicine man. I know that consumer demand for traditional Chinese and Asian medicines is a major threat to the survival of tigers, bears, rhinos and dozens or probably hundreds of other species. Traditional African and Latin American medicine also involve the use of animal parts, to some degree. I don't know whether the use of animal parts by sangomas in Africa is contributing to the demise of threatened species, but it can't be helping. For that reason, I didn't accept any medicines on my first visit, and during my second visit I accepted only a couple of plant-based powders.

Welverdiend has more than one sangoma; I think two of them are women. I had no preference, and my friend Clifford made an appt for me to see the sangoma Caiphus. In 2007 Clifford and friend Robert went with me to translate, and Ken my husband went too.

Ken, Clifford, and Robert (l to r) with me in Caiphus' consulting room, 2007

The 2007 visit was really more of an interview than a doctor's appointment, but Caiphus did "throw the bones for me," a diagnostic practice. He told me that there was nothing wrong with me, but he offered me a drink from a jar of fluid with some unidentified stuff floating in it, just in case. I declined politely and we all laughed. Then Caiphus said Ken was sick. (He was.) He recommended that Ken keep taking the medicine he'd brought with him from the States.

Caiphus in his "office" as a medicine man, with some of his tools in 2007

On my second visit, in 2009, I went to see Caiphus as a patient or client. I took only my friend from Welverdiend, Clifford, to act as translator. Caiphus greeted us in front of his house with little Queen. We chatted a while then I told Caiphus that there was a situation in my life that was causing me distress, and I wanted his diagnosis and advice, although I didn't want to be prescribed any medicines made of animal products. (Sangomas treat non-medical problems too, such as mine.)

So we went into his front room, where he keeps his diagnostic tools and his remedies.

My friend Clifford and Caiphus, 2009

The walls in Caiphus' room are lined with his collection of medicines (2 pics below)

Most of his medicines looked like teas, or powders, or crumbled dried plants. We sat down on animal skins he had on the floor, Queen at her daddy's knee. I asked what kind of skins they were; Caiphus said duiker and impala (local species of antelope) and jackal. Impala are abundant in the park, duiker are common. I know jackals are heavily persecuted by farmers who complain about jackals killing poultry, etc. I didn't ask him where he got the skins (below).

He had a dried elephant foot that he said is used for people who come to him with foot ailments (visible as the gray blob on the white plate in the second picture of his bottles and jars). I know that Kruger Park staff at times shoot elephants who are destroying crop fields or causing persistent problems and give the meat to villagers. This is probably how he got the foot. Caiphus also had a wildebeest tail that he said is used to cleanse patients who have been "bewitched by evil spirits." He said a lot of the "medicine" that works with the wildebeest tail is actually stuffed into the handle affixed to the tail.

The wildebeest tail with handle

He demonstrated how it works by holding the handle and sweeping Clifford with the wildebeest tail. We all laughed. We spent a lot of time laughing. Caiphus is friendly and funny, and he put me quite at ease.

Anyway, I described my problem to Caiphus, a problem which involved a situation with another person that was causing me some angst. To come up with the treatment for my distress, Caiphus collected his small bones, shook them vigorously, spoke to the bones in Shangaan, and then threw them down on one of the animal skins. He spent some time studying them and pointing out their meaning to us with his stick, as Queen began to nod off.

Below, a closer view of his bones (which include a domino, a few coins, a sea shell)

I asked Caiphus what the bones were, and he said they were the knees of sheep, goat, impala, duiker, warthog, lion, leopard, tortoise, and marula. Marula is a plant, so I don't know what that meant. Queen at this point put her head on her dad's knee, asleep (below).

I wish I'd asked him how he acquired the knees of these animals, but I didn't. Why didn't I? I was dismayed to hear lion and leopard in the list, though. I can only hope that the animals weren't killed for the sake of procuring their knee bones for the sangoma. I know that villages living around the park sometimes kill predators who are killing their livestock. I'm guessing this is how he got the leopard and lion knees, or maybe he bought them. As I was ruminating over this, Caiphus reached behind himself, pulled out a cloth, folded it carefully, and tenderly placed it under Queen's head.

Queen snoozes on the little pillow her dad made

Anyway, here's what he said the bones told him about me: I need to appeal to my female ancestors to intercede in my behalf. He also said something of value is coming my way. In order to properly ask my female ancestors to influence my affairs, I need to get a white cloth and a checked cloth, put a 100-rand bill (South African money) between the two cloths and sprinkle some brown powder over the cloths. Then I need to ask my female ancestors to clear the way for this thing of value to come to me, whatever it is. The brown powder was a ground-up tree root, he said.

Secondly, I needed to put brown powder #2 (a different kind of tree root) into a bath tub of water. Then I needed to speak outloud to my female ancestors about the solution I would like to happen regarding the situation at home that's bothering me. Next, I should put some of the yellow powder in a glass of water, sit down in the bath water, and drink the glass with the yellow powder in it.

He put the brown powder for the cloths in a used snuff can and gave it to me. He deftly wrapped the two powders for the bath procedure into separate packets make entirely of newspaper.

The packets of ground tree roots, and the brown tree root in the snuff can

We talked for a couple more minutes, then Clifford and I jumped up. We were going to take a ride through the Mozambique neighborhood of Welverdiend. The Mozambique population moved into the area as refugees from political turmoil in Mozambique, and they are not as far along the road to Westernization as the Shangaan Welverdiend residents. For example, I believe he said they have no running water, and their schools have fewer supplies, etc.

On our way out, Caiphus showed us some medicinal herbs he was drying in the sun

Then Clifford and I were off for our visit to the Mozambique area.

Children on the Mozambique side of town, walking home from school.

Would I recommend to anyone else to consult with a sangoma about a problem? If you have a latent anthropologist in yourself, like I do, then by all means Yes! Other ways of life fascinate me. About the matter of their using animal skins and animal bones (the wildebeest tail and elephant foot) - tell them that American tourists (or whatever nationality you are) don't like the idea of using animal parts from animals that might be declining in number. I should have encouraged Caiphus to use only the bones of domestic animals or truly abundant animals, like scrub hares or impala.

I like Caiphus a lot; it's impossible not to like him. I like him for being such a kind father to his little girl, for laughing so readily, for providing a good home for his family in a lovely town like Welverdiend, for suggesting that I call on my female ancestors who have power. I like that last idea. I like it a lot. Even though most of the people of Welverdiend will tell you that they are Christian, they blend the old with the new. I understand that their church services are quite an experience. I could hear them from a distance when I was there on a Sunday, but didn't get a chance to attend. Next time I'm there, I will.

Check out on their website what Welverdiend is doing to prepare for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The village's new resort will be ready to house and feed dozens of athletes from all over the world, with an Olympic-sized pool for exercising. By June of 2010, Welverdiend will also have a wildlife preserve with safari vehicles. It makes me want to cry. If you could see how much they've changed since 2007... These are people who have amazing drive and spirit. I just want to be around them. I want to be there...now.

Key words:: sangoma Africa traditional healer medicine man traditional medicine declining resources natural resources South Africa Welverdiend Caiphus throwing the bones throw the bones Kruger National Park Kruger Park Laurence Kruger

All text and photos by Sally Kneidel, PhD, of sallykneidel.com

With a chain-saw, he cut off the rhino's valuable horn

This post now on Google News - a time-sensitive link.

All text and photos by Sally Kneidel PhD of http://sallykneidel.com

I was surprised at how simple it was. One of the men put his foot on the drugged rhino's massive horn, pinning the horn to a wooden block on the ground.

Then another guy revved up the chain-saw and sawed the horn off her face, leaving a stump that protruded about 4 inches from the rhino's skin.

A small plastic sheet under the rhino caught all the shavings, which were considerable.

Below, the shavings and the big horn.

The circular stump, head on, looked like a bulls-eye with its dark center.

Then the man with the chain-saw turned his attention to the second smaller horn, and sawed that off too, once again catching all the valuable shavings and flakes. The rhino was awake enough to flinch at that one, which was much closer to her eyes and ears.

The stumps of both horns on the mother rhino.

Rhino horns are made of compacted hair, so removing one shouldn't hurt if the growth zone at the base isn't touched. The horn will regrow about 2 inches a year, maybe twice that much if the animal is given protein supplements. A typical horn on an adult white rhino is about 22 inches.

As she lay on the ground, the rhino was grunting softly, laboring to breathe. Feeling the urge to comfort, I put my hand on her shoulder. Her skin was tough, like it looked, but I was surprised at how warm it felt- even warmer than human skin. No wonder they have so many parasites, the blood must be right under the surface.

Ken and I had been invited on this rhino capture by a couple of science friends while in Africa, in June. We'd watched while a helicopter took off with a vet, a vet tech, and a pilot to locate two rhinos from the air and to fire a tranquilizer dart from a rifle into each one.

One of the darts, after it was removed.

After a mother rhino and her year-old-baby were located and successfully darted, Ken and I and a group of other scientists had to find the fallen beasts in the dense African bush, not an easy task. The rhinos ran quite a ways before the drug brought them down. The plan was to take samples and measurements from the sedated pair, then inject an antidote to wake them and lead them into two cages on a flatbed truck.

The reason for the capture was that the rhino and her baby had been sold. They were moving from a wildlife preserve into private hands, to raise money for the preserve. The new private owner had requested that the mother have her horn removed to protect her from poachers. I had mixed feelings about that.

The new owner was operating under the theory that a rhino without horns is less likely to be killed by poachers, which may or may not be true - I don't know. Rhino poaching is a real danger, having increased in southern Africa 3-fold between 2005 and August of 2009. In Kruger Park alone, 27 rhinos have been killed in 2009. Rhino horns stored at Addo National Park were stolen in a violent armed robbery in July of '09. Just last night I got an email from a friend in South Africa that "Heidi," the only white rhino at Thula Thula preserve, has just been shot and killed by poachers who hacked off her horn.

Rhino horn is extremely valuable, for two main markets. It's sold to Asian countries, especially China, Taiwan, and South Korea, for use in traditional medicines. And it's sold to Middle Eastern countries such as Yemen and Oman, where it's used to make ornately carved handles for ceremonial daggers. We were told, while in Africa, that much of the rhino poaching is instigated by well-organized Asian syndicates, which may hire impoverished locals to do the dirty and dangerous work. It may take 3 days to track a rhino - which is invariably shot and killed before the horn is sawed or hacked off. An average-sized horn can sell for $24,000 on the black market. The scientists we went out with said the horns sell for $6,000 per kilo, and the mama's horn that we saw weighed about 4 kilos.

So, does removing the horns protect rhinos from poaching? We were told by a variety of sources, including rangers and poaching guards, that removing horns from a rhino does little to protect it. Poachers will still go after a dehorned rhino and shoot it, because even the stump is valuable. And if the stump too is gone, we heard, the trackers will kill the rhino just so they won't waste 3 days tracking the same useless animal again.

So back to the scene... the drugged mama and baby rhino.... as soon as we located the darted rhinos lying down and sedated, the group of scientists on the ground split into two teams to work respectively on the mother and baby. Cloths were tied around their eyes as blindfolds. A soft cloth ball the size of a tennis ball was stuffed into each ear to shut out sounds, to keep the animals calm.

Above, ear plugs for the mother (the black balls), put in place before the sampling and cutting began.

The teams took blood, hair, skin, and tissue samples, measured the animals' temperature and pulse, inspected the teeth and various other body parts, and clamped ID tags to their ears.

Below, the sampling materials in the truck before the work began.

The pulse is checked (below).

One graduate student plucked green Amblyoma ticks from around each rhino's anus. Below, the round ticks are visible in the skin creases. The mother's tail is in the lower right of the photo below. I'm not sure what the white stuff is, maybe an antiseptic or pesticide.

The ticks on most of their skin are plucked off by oxpeckers - birds that specialize in eating external parasites from large African herbivores. But I guess the birds can't get to an anus that's covered by a tail. I like almost all animals, including invertebrates, but I have to admit that the dozens of ticks around the mother's moist anus were a bit unsavory.

It was during this sampling and measuring that the mom's horns were sawed off. The shavings and flakes, which were considerable, were saved because of their value. We were told that they will be stored in a secure vault. For what, or until when, I don't know.

After all the sampling was done, a vet injected the antidote into the 10-yr-old mom and her yearling son, leaving the blindfolds in place.


After just a couple of minutes, the rhinos started to wake up. A bunch of people started trying to roll the rhinos so that their legs would be under them (the mother, below).


The rhinos were then urged and pushed and pulled into a sitting position (the mother, below).


Then the two animals were pulled and prodded toward the cages and truck that would take them to their new home (the mother, below).




As I ran beside the mother rhino, she passed saplings - and trampled them. She didn't go around anything, but smashed everything in her way. Of course she couldn't see where she was going. I felt sorry for her - she had no idea where her baby was, unless her keen sense of smell told her.

We soon arrived at the cage for the mother. She was pulled with the rope, and pushed from behind , and walked easily enough into the cage.


The heavy cage door was lowered by a crane, and then the crane lifted the cage onto the flatbed truck. The baby was already in his cage on the truck, which had room for both cages (below).


Then it started to drizzle. So instead of driving the rhinos 80 some miles in a drizzle and risk their getting a respiratory infection, the decision was made to release them temporarily into a nearby holding pen that was forested and quite extensive. We drove there, the crane put the cages on the ground, and the blindfolds and earplugs were removed. Mom and babe were both released, and the rhinos rejoined one another immediately (below).


They then began to trot away from us (below).

But baby stopped, and turned around to stare at us.

"What the heck was that?," he must have wondered. He may have never seen a human before. Someone clapped and yelled to shoo him and he turned to follow his mother (below).


Rhino conservation: the good and the bad
I didn't know when we were in Africa how threatened or endangered the southern white rhino is. As it turns out, they are classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List. I did know that they're the largest land animal, after the African and Asian elephants. They're larger than any other rhino species. We saw them on lots of outings in reserves - they were fairly common in southern Africa. I knew that white rhinos are really named for their "wide" and squarish upper lip. Africa's black rhinos, which are much more rare and may be extinct in the wild, have a narrow prehensile upper lip that they use for browsing. Black rhinos are particularly vulnerable to poaching because they must have water daily and they return to the same water hole every day. Sometimes water holes are poisoned to kill the rhinos (and everything else that uses it).

Although the white rhino population in southern Africa is doing relatively well at present, they almost went extinct. In 1895, there were only 20 to 50 animals alive in the wild. Today, the population of white rhinos in southern Africa has grown to 17,500, with 750 more in captive breeding programs around the world, according to ARKive. I don't know how they got from 50 to 17,500, but it's a nice success story.

Still, white rhinos remain in danger due to habitat loss, the recent surge in poaching, and widespread poverty which affects human priorities. Africa is the only continent where poverty is increasing, due to human population growth, recurrent droughts, HIV, and a history of colonization and exploitation.

Poverty is a contibuting factor
In some of the rural villages we visited in southern Africa, we were told that local people often enter national parks illegally to poach wildlife for food or for sale, and to gather firewood to use or to sell, when nearby sources are depleted. It's the hierarchy of needs....if your kids are hungry, you do what you need to do to feed them. If you can. We also heard that rhino poachers are often shot on sight by poaching patrols. You can tell a rhino poacher, we were told, because they carry high caliber rifles - not the snares and homemade traps that local people use to catch smaller animals.

But the main driver of rhino poaching is the demand in consumer countries
Recently, Vietnamese operators have been especially active in poaching rhinos from southern Africa, or in hiring local people to do it. That's according to Traffic, an international NGO that monitors illegal trade in wildlife. David Newton of Traffic reported that "very senior members of the Vietnamese government claim to have been cured of certain terminal diseases by the use of rhino horn......so that seems to be where the demand is coming from." Newton added that rhino horn has no medicinal qualities. It's hard for me to stomach the news that government officials are promoting the poaching of rhinos. Do they know that rhino horns are no different chemically than hair??

A white rhino with its horns intact.

Do rhinos need the horns?
As I watched the mother rhino and her youngster led through this bewildering series of events that left the mother hornless, I wondered about their safety. Doesn't she need her horn to protect the baby from predators? Maybe. But we were told, and observed for ourselves, that rhinos will trample whatever they want to trample. The trampling is more likely to kill you than the horn. Each dangerous animal has its way. A Cape Buffalo will pick you up with its horns and toss you into the air. A hippo "will bite you in half" we heard, if you get between the hippo and its river. But a rhino will just run right over you as though you weren't even there. Each animal deserves distance and respect for different reasons! Rhinos do use their horns in social confrontations, but usually only in slight horn butting, false charges, and displays.

As the two wandered off into the trees after their ordeal, neither mom nor baby seemed to pay any attention to the absence of her horn - but who knows what was in her mind...or what their future will be. At least, I feel confident that she won't wind up on a "trophy" shooting reserve. For who would pay thousands of dollars to hang a rhino head with a bulls-eye stump on his living room wall?

All text and photos by Sally Kneidel PhD of http://sallykneidel.com/

Post script from a friend at TRAFFIC:
After I wrote this post, I got this e-mail from friend and colleague Richard Thomas, who works for TRAFFIC The Wildlife Monitoring Network:
"You may have seen that we [TRAFFIC] submitted a technical document, with WWF and
IUCN, to CITES in July, highlighting the sudden alarming urge in rhino
poaching — and issued a press release about its main findings that got
a lot of publicity. The release is here, where you can download the
report too:

http://www.traffic.org/home/2009/7/9/poaching-crisis-as-rhino-horn-demand-booms-in-asia.html

Vietnam is certainly emerging as the country that's driving the rhino
horn demand. Whilst you're right to flag that poverty is a significant
factor in poaching of animals, research by TRAFFIC indicates that the
main driver is actually the demand for the products in the consumer
countries; and the Vietnam situation appears to be following that model."
I amended my post above slightly after receiving this helpful point from
Richard Thomas.

Sources used in writing this post:
Personal communication with game control scientists, vet techs, biologists, poaching guards, rangers, wildlife guides in Africa.

ARKive: Images of Life on Earth

Rhino Horn the Cure for Serious Diseases? International Rhino Foundation, Aug 6, 2009

TRAFFIC: the wildlife monitoring network www.traffic.org

More resources:
International Rhino Foundation:
http://www.rhinos-irf.org/white
(IRF has posted my rhino post above on their website.)

IUCN SSC African Rhino Specialist Group:
http://www.rhinos-irf.org/afrsg

Keywords:: white rhino poaching threats to rhinos habitat loss Africa