Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 24, 2012

Demand for Horn Fuels Record-High Rhino Poaching

A rhino poaching crisis in South Africa is fed by an insatiable demand in Vietnam for the large animals' horns, which are believed to promote health, cure hangovers and even cancer, according to a new report. In South Africa, more and more rhinos are being killed illegally. In 2007, 13...

Jan 3, 2013

Javan Rhino Officially Extinct In Vietnam

It's official: There are no more rhinos left in Vietnam. A large female Javan rhino, estimated to be between 15 and 25 years old, was shot and killed in late April 2010, and had its horn removed by a poacher. Turns out it was the country's last, as reported by...

Jan 10, 2013

Rhino Poaching at Record High in South Africa

Rhinoceros poaching soared to a record high level in South Africa last year. The country's government said 668 rhinos were killed within its borders in 2012, up from 448 in 2011, according to the World Wildlife Fund, an international conservation group. A whopping 425 of those deaths last year occurred...

Jan 18, 2013

Baby Rhino Gets Bottle Fed

Sometimes, even rhino babies need to be bottle fed. The San Diego Zoo released a picture of its newborn rhinoceros Shomili, or Mili, being bottle fed this week as part of her daily eating routine. Zookeepers say her first-time mom Sundari has been having trouble producing enough milk to nourish...

Apr 25, 2013

Poachers Have Killed All Rhinos in Mozambique Park

Sad news from Mozambique: Illegal poachers have killed all the rhinos in Limpopo National Park, a large wildlife reserve in the southeast African country, according to news reports. Park director António Abacar was quoted as saying this week that no rhinos had been seen since January, which means that the...

Apr 26, 2013

To Save Rhinos, Just Add Poison

In the struggle to prevent illegal poaching of endangered African rhinos, wildlife managers believe they've found a new weapon: poison. So far this year, more than 200 rhinos have been killed by poachers in South Africa alone, according to the Guardian, and conservationists fear that number will climb to about...

Jul 8, 2013

South Africa Wants to Sell Its Rhino Horns

Facing record levels of poaching, South Africa is hoping to get permission to have a one-off sale of its stockpiles of rhinoceros horns. Edna Molewa, the nation's minister of water and environmental affairs, announced that a petition for the sale will be submitted at the next meeting of the Convention...

Sep 23, 2013

Mass Rhino Slaughter in South Africa Worries Conservationists

Already this year, 618 rhinos have been killed in South Africa, with three months left to go in the year. That represents a dramatic rise over years past: Last year 668 rhinos were killed in the country, up from just seven in 2007. South Africa is home to 18,000 white...

Sep 26, 2013

How Children in Vietnam May Prevent the Rhino's Extinction (Op-Ed)

Teresa Telecky, director of wildlife for Humane Society International (HSI), is an expert on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and serves as the executive director and vice president of the Species Survival Network. She contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Somewhere in Vietnam,...

Jan 22, 2014

2013 Was Record Year for Rhino Poaching in South Africa

The number of rhinos illegally slaughtered in South Africa reached an all-time high in 2013, with an average of three rhinos killed each day, according to new figures released this month by the South African Department of Environmental Affairs. Government officials revealed that a record 1,004 rhinos were killed last...

Feb 5, 2014

Woolly Mammoths and Rhinos Ate Flowers

Woolly mammoths, rhinos and other ice age beasts may have munched on high-protein wildflowers called forbs, new research suggests. And far from living in a monotonous grassland, the mega-beasts inhabited a colorful Arctic landscape filled with flowering plants and diverse vegetation, the study researchers found. The new research paints a...

Mar 24, 2014

Vietnam May Destroy Its Illegal Ivory, Rhino Horn and Tiger Bone

Vietnam could be the latest country to destroy its stockpiles of illegal wildlife products. Officials with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam say they are considering crushing rhino horn, elephant ivory and tiger bone, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced. In recent years, the international community has...

Aug 13, 2014

Poachers Force Massive Rhino Evacuation

Hundreds of endangered rhinos will be evacuated from one of the largest national parks in Africa, according to the South African government. The evacuation effort aims to protect the rhinos in South Africa's Kruger National Park from poachers, by moving the animals away from regions of high population density to...

Aug 26, 2014

Rhino Reproduction Could Get Boost from Hormone Tests

Rhino reproduction may undergo a renaissance in European zoos, as researchers try to tap into how they can boost the success of these massive animals mating in captivity, according to a new study. The endangered black rhino, illegally hunted for its horn, has low birth rates in European zoos, the...

Oct 31, 2014

Why Destroy Rhino Horn? It's Worth More Than Cocaine (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published on The Conversation. The publication contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. As the electric saw cuts into the base of the horn of the live rhino lying at my feet, I feel an uncomfortable guilt. The rhino shakes and judders...