Illegal hunting is still a big risk for rhinos, says the IUCN bulletin of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The size of the African rhinoceros population was 23,300 individuals at the end of 2022, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says on Instagram. The number of animals has increased by 5.2 percent since 2021.
The population of dark bush rhinos is a total of 6,487 individuals, i.e. 4.2 percent higher than two years ago. The population of white rhinoceroses has grown in the same time to 16,803 individuals, or 5.6 percent.
– We can breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in a decade after hearing such good news. This positive development should be strengthened and developed, zoologist, leader of the IUCN expert group Michael Knight commented in the announcement.
There are more rhinos in South Africa than anywhere else. Illegal hunting still poses a threat to animals. Rhinoceros horn is sought after as a medicinal substance and in the art market.
In South Africa, according to the IUCN, 448 rhinos were killed illegally in 2022, compared to 451 the previous year. In Namibia, 93 individuals were killed last year, which is about twice as many as the previous year.
There are a total of five different species of rhinoceros. According to the IUCN’s 2022 calculations, the number of rhinos decreased by several thousand individuals in three years. The rarest of the species was the Sumatra rhinoceros, whose population decreased to 34-47 individuals.
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