Northern White Rhinoceros | Online Record Book Preview

Ceratotherium simum cottoni

For many years it was assumed that the white rhinoceros was confined to South Africa; however, the existence of a northern population was revealed in 1900 when British Maj. A. St. H. Gibbons shot one near Lado on the west bank of the Nile in Sudan.

DISTRIBUTION & STATUS Original range was west of the White Nile in northwestern Uganda, southwestern Sudan, northeastern Congo (K), eastern Central African Republic and southern Chad. Until recently these populations thrived; however, the fighting in Congo (K) in the 1960s, the continuing civil war in Sudan, and the wide-open commercial poaching of the past few years have pushed them to the brink of extinction. It is believed the only remaining population is in Garamba National Park in northern Congo (K), where fewer than 30 animals survive.

This subspecies is listed on Appendix I of CITES (1975), as endangered by the USF&WS (1970) and as endangered by the IUCN. Protected by law wherever it occurs but heavily poached nevertheless, for its horn is in great demand in the Yemen Arab Republic for traditional dagger handles, and in eastern Asia where it is considered to have aphrodisiacal and medicinal properties.