BY: Jaume 9B

The white rhino Type: Mammal Diet: Herbivore Size: Head and body, 11 to ft (3.4 to 4.2 m); tail, 20 to 27.5 in (50 to 70 cm) Weight: 3,168 to 7,920 lbs (1,440 to 3,600 kg Relative: Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man

Where does it live?

White rhino in South Africa

Ecosystem Today, around 10,500 white rhino live in the park, but that was not always the case. In 1896, rhinos went extinct there due to overzealous trophy hunting. In the 1960s, conservationists began reintroducing the animals back into the park. The population rebounded over the decades, although the rhinos haven’t distributed themselves around the 7,500-square mile area equally. As a result, Kruger acts as a sort of “well-documented natural experiment,” the researchers write, showing what happens when an animal is excluded from and then put back into an environment.

Why is it endangered? White rhinos are the second largest land mammal and their name comes from the Afrikaan’s, a West Germanic language, word “weit” which means wide and refers to the animal’s muzzle. Also known as the square-lipped rhinoceros, white rhinos have a square upper lip with almost no hair. The majority (98.8%) of white rhinos occur in just four countries: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. Northern white rhinos and southern white rhinos are genetically distinct subspecies and are found in two different regions in Africa. Southern white rhinos were thought to be extinct in the late 19th century, but in 1895 a small population of less than 100 individuals was discovered in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa..

What’s being done? Expanding existing protected areas and improving their management; Establishing new protected areas; Improving security monitoring to protect rhinos from poaching; Improving local and international law enforcement to stop the illegal flow of rhino horn from Africa to other regions of the world Promoting well-managed wildlife-based tourism experiences that will also provide additional funding for conservation efforts

What’s a seed bank? A seed bank (also seed bank or seeds bank) stores seeds as a source for planting in case seed reserves elsewhere are destroyed. It is a type of gene bank. The seeds stored may be food crops, or those of rare species to protect biodiversity.