A BRIEF-ISH HISTORY OF AN ANCIENT CREATURE
the evolution of
the rhinoceros
If I asked you to conjure the image of a rhino in your mind, I suspect you’d picture a hulking block of grey with a sharp and pointy horn on its face. That horn is all that we seem to talk about now whenever we mention the rhinoceros. This glorious animal is now diminished in our mind’s eye by the on going warn on poaching.
The fight for the rhinos’ survival is an all-consuming battle, often against the odds and seemingly invisible enemies who share the same destructive, heartless, greedy tendencies. Conservationists are hoarsely reiterating that rhino horn is nothing more exciting than keratin and has no value to humans except that of fairytale and imagined status. It smells awful, probably tastes like toenails, and may contain potentially toxic minerals.
But let’s start at the beginning because to truly appreciate these giants, we need some scale. These massive, ancient creatures have been wandering the planet for around 50 – 60 million years, which is really quite astonishing, especially considering that homo sapiens (modern humans) are thought to have only evolved around 350,000 years ago, a mere blink of an eye compared to the lineage and history of the rhinoceros.
Though they are mammals and are not reptilian, like dinosaurs, you’ll often hear people compare rhinos to the extinct, prehistoric archosaurs. It does make sense to me that their armor-like skin, strange proportions, and deadly horns inspired the Jurassic Park movies, (I can’t watch a black rhino without the triceratops scene entering my mind) and since ancient rhinos emerged ‘just’ (relatively) after the demise of those terrifying velociraptors and tyrannosaurus rexes, we can see how natural science artists could paint them with the same brush, so to speak. Perhaps a lot to do with the brown pencil crayon that artists would favour when trying to imagine a time we could never visit. It’s a safer option than any other colour in the box. Scientists now believe that dinosaurs were perhaps more feathery, which would tie in with modern birds, left behind after the Cretaceous-tertiary Extinction (also known as the K-T extinction) 65 million years ago.
Only a mere five million years after this, as ancient rhinos began to emerge, it was thought they would have looked like the ancestors of horses, much smaller than their modern offspring, and quite a long way away from having the iconic rhino horn. Although they barely resembled modern rhinos, ancient rhinos were just as tough, if not tougher. They had to survive ferocious predators, ice ages, and of course, in relatively more modern times, the ongoing threat of man. To think that primitive rhinos included the largest land mammal to ever walk the earth, the Paraceratherium, and the Elasmotherium, a creature so fantastical, you’d feel it was more fitting if you saw it in Star Wars than an actual animal that once roamed the Earth.
A BRIEF-ISH HISTORY OF AN ANCIENT CREATURE
the evolution of the rhino
If I asked you to conjure the image of a rhino in your mind, I suspect you’d picture a hulking block of grey with a sharp and pointy horn on its face. That horn is all that we seem to talk about now whenever we mention the rhinoceros. This glorious animal is now diminished in our mind’s eye by the on going warn on poaching.
The fight for the rhinos’ survival is an all-consuming battle, often against the odds and seemingly invisible enemies who share the same destructive, heartless, greedy tendencies. Conservationists are hoarsely reiterating that rhino horn is nothing more exciting than keratin and has no value to humans except that of fairytale and imagined status. It smells awful, probably tastes like toenails, and may contain potentially toxic minerals.
But let’s start at the beginning because to truly appreciate these giants, we need some scale. These massive, ancient creatures have been wandering the planet for around 50 – 60 million years, which is really quite astonishing, especially considering that homo sapiens (modern humans) are thought to have only evolved around 350,000 years ago, a mere blink of an eye compared to the lineage and history of the rhinoceros.
Though they are mammals and are not reptilian, like dinosaurs, you’ll often hear people compare rhinos to the extinct, prehistoric archosaurs. It does make sense to me that their armor-like skin, strange proportions, and deadly horns inspired the Jurassic Park movies, (I can’t watch a black rhino without the triceratops scene entering my mind) and since ancient rhinos emerged ‘just’ (relatively) after the demise of those terrifying velociraptors and tyrannosaurus rexes, we can see how natural science artists could paint them with the same brush, so to speak. Perhaps a lot to do with the brown pencil crayon that artists would favour when trying to imagine a time we could never visit. It’s a safer option than any other colour in the box. Scientists now believe that dinosaurs were perhaps more feathery, which would tie in with modern birds, left behind after the Cretaceous-tertiary Extinction (also known as the K-T extinction) 65 million years ago.
Only a mere five million years after this, as ancient rhinos began to emerge, it was thought they would have looked like the ancestors of horses, much smaller than their modern offspring, and quite a long way away from having the iconic rhino horn. Although they barely resembled modern rhinos, ancient rhinos were just as tough, if not tougher. They had to survive ferocious predators, ice ages, and of course, in relatively more modern times, the ongoing threat of man. To think that primitive rhinos included the largest land mammal to ever walk the earth, the Paraceratherium, and the Elasmotherium, a creature so fantastical, you’d feel it was more fitting if you saw it in Star Wars than an actual animal that once roamed the Earth.
A wonderfully shaggy Woolly Rhino, Coelodonta Antiquitatis, courtesy of Shutterstock.
Realistic life size replica model of Indricotherium or Paraceratherium, courtesy of Shutterstock.
Elasmotherium, in Europe & Asia during the Pleistocene era, courtesy of Shutterstock.
A wonderfully shaggy Woolly Rhino,
Coelodonta Antiquitatis, courtesy of Shutterstock.
Realistic life size replica model of Indricotherium
or Paraceratherium, courtesy of Shutterstock.
Elasmotherium, in Europe & Asia during the
Pleistocene era, courtesy of Shutterstock.
Rhinos are part of a group of animals named perissodactyls, or odd-toed ungulates, which also include horses and zebras. 55 million years ago, perissodactyls were small herbivores and diversified into amynodonts (hornless, large-bodied rhinos that vanished around 30 million years ago), metamynodonts (more like hippos, wallowing in water all day, which went extinct 35 million years ago), and hyracodonts, which evolved as the surface of the Earth changed from hot, dense rainforests to savannas and grasslands around 35 million years ago during the Oligocene epoch.
Most hyracodon species were not able to adapt as horses did and went extinct around 26 million years ago, except for one group, the Indricotheres, which just became larger and larger! Standing at an incredible five meters tall at the shoulder and weighing in 10 times as much as a modern white rhino, around 20 tonnes, this long-necked creature would have traveled longer distances through the emerging savannas to find trees to munch.
It’s difficult to imagine that this giant herbivore would have any natural threats, but it was predated upon by 11-meter-long super-sized crocodiles as it crossed rivers, and certainly the weak and the young would have fallen prey to giant hyenas and dog-like bears, also long since extinct! Twenty-three million years ago, the planet cooled down and continued to get progressively chillier for the next few million years.
Elasmotherium emerged 2.5 million years ago, at the beginning of the Pleistocene, and is dubbed the Siberian unicorn, looking a little like the modern rhino, only significantly larger. Most striking was that it had a single horn growing from its forehead, hence its colloquial name.
When an ice age covered much of Europe and North America with huge ice sheets, rhinos adapted, as they had been doing for eons, and great woolly rhinos emerged to survive the bitter cold! Despite having little to eat, a rapidly changing climate, it was the arrival of early humans that began to drive many modern rhino species, including the woolly, to extinction. Perfectly ‘dressed’ for the snow and large enough to feed the whole family, humans hunted these 3 tonne pachyderms in order to survive.
We’ve been helping ourselves to nature as if it is infinite ever since the dawn of our time here on Earth, and we’re thought to be responsible for the extinction of so many species, including the Atlas Bear or North African Bear, the Dodo, the Formosan Clouded Leopard, the Quagga, the Javian Tiger and countless others.
Since the first records held by the IUCN in the 1500s, scientists have actually counted 881 animal species as having gone extinct as a result of humans, but that’s an conservative estimate. It’s more likely around 1500 lost species in the last five centuries. However, with over 1,000,000 species on the brink of extinction right now, and approximately 7.5 million species we don’t really know anything about but more than likely are at the same risk; a vanishing rate not seen in 10 million years due to humans polluting nature, driving the climate temperatures up and encroaching on wild spaces; we just don’t seem to have learned our lesson. We have caused and are in the sixth mass extinction event.
We could argue that even a hundred, or two hundred years ago, we had no idea how unstainstable our actions were, that we too have evolved since then, at least socially and morally, looking back at our forefathers with shame.
After all, we rarely invade other countries now and claim we’re liberating the locals or bringing them modern conveniences while secretly helping ourselves to natural resources, although we do a bit, don’t we? We still feel entitled to the pantry of nature, though most of us prefer to look the other way. Nature is in crisis, yet we believe that someone else will save it. With so many modern worries, we simply don’t have the mental space to take on saving the world. How many out of sight extinctions are happening as I type this? But also, I’m still thinking about how I have to go buy dog food, and wondering what will we have for supper tonight?
In the case of the rhino, human myths may be the end of their time on earth. Even though it has been scientifically proven that rhino horn has no magical, medicinal properties, we still can’t shake the stories passed down from our ancestors. And if not that, the glorification of extreme wealth – being rich enough to afford a rhino horn as a symbol of status. What will it take for us to see that if we don’t stop doing what we’re doing, we are, in fact, digging the grave of our own extinction event?
Rhinos are part of a group of animals named perissodactyls, or odd-toed ungulates, which also include horses and zebras. 55 million years ago, perissodactyls were small herbivores and diversified into amynodonts (hornless, large-bodied rhinos that vanished around 30 million years ago), metamynodonts (more like hippos, wallowing in water all day, which went extinct 35 million years ago), and hyracodonts, which evolved as the surface of the Earth changed from hot, dense rainforests to savannas and grasslands around 35 million years ago during the Oligocene epoch.
Most hyracodon species were not able to adapt as horses did and went extinct around 26 million years ago, except for one group, the Indricotheres, which just became larger and larger! Standing at an incredible five meters tall at the shoulder and weighing in 10 times as much as a modern white rhino, around 20 tonnes, this long-necked creature would have traveled longer distances through the emerging savannas to find trees to munch.
It’s difficult to imagine that this giant herbivore would have any natural threats, but it was predated upon by 11-meter-long super-sized crocodiles as it crossed rivers, and certainly the weak and the young would have fallen prey to giant hyenas and dog-like bears, also long since extinct! Twenty-three million years ago, the planet cooled down and continued to get progressively chillier for the next few million years.
Elasmotherium emerged 2.5 million years ago, at the beginning of the Pleistocene, and is dubbed the Siberian unicorn, looking a little like the modern rhino, only significantly larger. Most striking was that it had a single horn growing from its forehead, hence its colloquial name.
When an ice age covered much of Europe and North America with huge ice sheets, rhinos adapted, as they had been doing for eons, and great woolly rhinos emerged to survive the bitter cold! Despite having little to eat, a rapidly changing climate, it was the arrival of early humans that began to drive many modern rhino species, including the woolly, to extinction. Perfectly ‘dressed’ for the snow and large enough to feed the whole family, humans hunted these 3 tonne pachyderms in order to survive.
We’ve been helping ourselves to nature as if it is infinite ever since the dawn of our time here on Earth, and we’re thought to be responsible for the extinction of so many species, including the Atlas Bear or North African Bear, the Dodo, the Formosan Clouded Leopard, the Quagga, the Javian Tiger and countless others.
Since the first records held by the IUCN in the 1500s, scientists have actually counted 881 animal species as having gone extinct as a result of humans, but that’s an conservative estimate. It’s more likely around 1500 lost species in the last five centuries. However, with over 1,000,000 species on the brink of extinction right now, and approximately 7.5 million species we don’t really know anything about but more than likely are at the same risk; a vanishing rate not seen in 10 million years due to humans polluting nature, driving the climate temperatures up and encroaching on wild spaces; we just don’t seem to have learned our lesson. We have caused and are in the sixth mass extinction event.
We could argue that even a hundred, or two hundred years ago, we had no idea how unstainstable our actions were, that we too have evolved since then, at least socially and morally, looking back at our forefathers with shame.
After all, we rarely invade other countries now and claim we’re liberating the locals or bringing them modern conveniences while secretly helping ourselves to natural resources, although we do a bit, don’t we? We still feel entitled to the pantry of nature, though most of us prefer to look the other way. Nature is in crisis, yet we believe that someone else will save it. With so many modern worries, we simply don’t have the mental space to take on saving the world. How many out of sight extinctions are happening as I type this? But also, I’m still thinking about how I have to go buy dog food, and wondering what will we have for supper tonight?
In the case of the rhino, human myths may be the end of their time on earth. Even though it has been scientifically proven that rhino horn has no magical, medicinal properties, we still can’t shake the stories passed down from our ancestors. And if not that, the glorification of extreme wealth – being rich enough to afford a rhino horn as a symbol of status. What will it take for us to see that if we don’t stop doing what we’re doing, we are, in fact, digging the grave of our own extinction event?
HOPE & BRACELETS
the good news, finally
Now that I’ve thoroughly perplexed you, I suspect you won’t be inviting me to any parties. It’s ok, I’m aware that I seem fairly doomy-and-gloomy, but actually, I am hopeful, because despite implying that we don’t know any better, we actually do. Our enormous brains, gifted to us through evolution, hold the solutions to a series of unconsidered decisions that lead us to this moment in time. It was impossible to see the bigger picture hundreds of years ago, and in hundreds of years, someone (hopefully) will be looking back at our primitive technology and thinking of us as though we were quaint and naive too. We don’t have all the answers, but we do now understand, truly, the concept of actions having consequences.
Although egos still halt progress sometimes, I like to think that we also know that superheroes are indeed mythical as well. What Superman could do as a single extra-terrestrial humanoid is achievable by mere mortals working together. Lift a train back onto its tracks? We invented cranes. Look through walls? How about thermal technology? Or we could simply walk through the door? Master vertical high-speed travel? You get the idea. In this convoluted metaphor, we are all capable of solving enormous problems and contributing, even if in a small way, to undo some of the damage our unknowing forefathers made, and to cease perpetuating those mistakes.
TRANSLOCATING LIONESSES
lions: on the brink of extinction
When thinking of Africa, we automatically conjure the image of the mighty lion. These cats are the biggest in Africa, second in the world only to the Siberian Tiger. They’re at the top of the predator list, and I’m assuming on top of most people’s Safari bucket list too. Symbolically, lions represent nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness, valour, and most commonly, bravery; the King of all beasts.
And yet, they’re on the brink of extinction. Just 50 years ago, 450,000 lions roamed the African savannahs. Almost a decade ago, the IUCN Red List listed the African lion as ‘Critically Endangered’ with their last report in 2014 suggesting lion numbers had dropped to 121,000 mature individuals. While researching this topic, I found that specialists don’t agree on the exact numbers (lions outside of reserves are difficult to count), but that the estimates range from 20,000 to an optimistic 24,000 wild lions left in the world as of 2022. In South Africa, it’s estimated that there are 13,000 lions left, and only 2,300 truly wild lions in the country.
For context, according to Databox Benchmark Groups, the median value for average Instagram followers was 2,240 in April this year, which means that if everyone who followed you was a lion, you’d probably know almost all of them.
When it comes to lions, there are a number of issues surrounding their not-at-all-gradual demise. Habitat loss, competition with livestock, farmers protecting livestock, illegal poaching for meat and animal products, and retribution killing for human-wildlife conflict are at the top of the list, but tuberculosis imperils, legal hunting, canned hunting, and the captive lion industry have contributed to the many concerns. Climate change is also a factor, seeing more droughts and delayed rainy seasons impacting the availability of prey. In short, lions may be the kings of the beasts, but their fate rests in our hands.
South Africa has no fence-free lion-friendly wildernesses left. The sad reality is that our country’s wildlife is all managed to a certain degree, varying from the Kruger’s hands-off approach (minus fences and necessary human interventions) to protecting their 1600 lions (the largest number in the country) to sizable enclosures on private reserves that allow lions to live almost as they should.
Lions on reserves need enough prey to sustain themselves (often prey species have to be replenished), enough suitable territory to hunt in and contraceptives to keep pride numbers down, as well as limit inbreeding opportunities and territorial male takeovers, because… cats.
In a natural system, without fences, coming-of-age male lions would leave the safety of the pride and seek out new territories and mates. When this isn’t possible, both male and female individuals are translocated to different areas to ensure as much gene diversity as possible to help bolster the population.
black rhinos
Moving lions is logistically challenging and quite costly, so to make sure the Mount Camdeboo’s Nora and Kibibi were easy to find, they were put into a boma a few days before. Nick Lincoln from the Bateleurs was scheduled to land at Asanta Sana’s airstrip, the neighbouring reserve, at 9.30am, giving the team just enough time to get the lionesses on his plane and to Babanango before the sunset, but the weather wasn’t playing ball.
The wind pumped relentlessly, so Nick had to land in Graaff Reinet, an hour’s drive away! By the time Nick and wildlife vet Dr Ryan van Deventer arrived at Mount Camdeboo, the race was on. And then, to complicate things, there was a weight limit on the aircraft to ensure that they wouldn’t run out of fuel before reaching their final destination. We assumed that Nora and Kibibi, both being quite young, were much lighter than they really were, so only Nora would be making the flight that day.
Ryan kept her sedated, gave her a health check, fitted a tracking collar (used to help find her in Babanango) and because we were going to be driving through town, loaded her into the back of the Quantum after removing some seats. It took several people to load her into Nick’s plane (it had also had seats removed) and off she went. Nora arrived in Babanango and put into a boma awaiting her sister. For the first time in her life, she had a meal she didn’t have to share too.
white rhinos
A couple of days later, the wind died down and Nick flew into Asanta Sana, like originally planned. As Kibibi had been weighed at the same time as Nora, she was sedated and loaded onto the Land Cruiser and driven to the airstrip. Kibibi’s collar was replaced with a new one so that the team at Babanango would be able to find her once released onto their reserve.
Just out of interest, in the photos and in the video you can see Kibibi with a blindfold and cottonwool in her ears. This is because the sedation has to be as light as possible. Even unconscious, lion instincts can kick in, so the team works as quickly, calmly, and quietly as possible. Every now and then, Kibibi would let out a little growl and we were reminded just how seriously we should take the situation.
Kibibi weighs 150kg and is around 3 years old. Her Kalahari lion genes, and maybe even her pride’s preference for buffalos, make her 30kg heavier than the average for a fully-grown lioness.
Kibibi was loaded up into Nick’s plane and flown the nearly 1000km to Babanango where she was reunited with her little sister. Word has it that they were overjoyed to be back together. I’m thrilled that once settled, they’ll be able to meet up with the new Babanango male and have their own offspring and create a pride of their own. I have no doubt they’ll thrive.
day one: nora
Moving lions is logistically challenging and quite costly, so to make sure the Mount Camdeboo’s Nora and Kibibi were easy to find, they were put into a boma a few days before. Nick Lincoln from the Bateleurs was scheduled to land at Asanta Sana’s airstrip, the neighbouring reserve, at 9.30am, giving the team just enough time to get the lionesses on his plane and to Babanango before the sunset, but the weather wasn’t playing ball.
The wind pumped relentlessly, so Nick had to land in Graaff Reinet, an hour’s drive away! By the time Nick and wildlife vet Dr Ryan van Deventer arrived at Mount Camdeboo, the race was on. And then, to complicate things, there was a weight limit on the aircraft to ensure that they wouldn’t run out of fuel before reaching their final destination. We assumed that Nora and Kibibi, both being quite young, were much lighter than they really were, so only Nora would be making the flight that day.
Ryan kept her sedated, gave her a health check, fitted a tracking collar (used to help find her in Babanango) and because we were going to be driving through town, loaded her into the back of the Quantum after removing some seats. It took several people to load her into Nick’s plane (it had also had seats removed) and off she went. Nora arrived in Babanango and put into a boma awaiting her sister. For the first time in her life, she had a meal she didn’t have to share too.
day two: kibibi
A couple of days later, the wind died down and Nick flew into Asanta Sana, like originally planned. As Kibibi had been weighed at the same time as Nora, she was sedated and loaded onto the Land Cruiser and driven to the airstrip. Kibibi’s collar was replaced with a new one so that the team at Babanango would be able to find her once released onto their reserve.
Just out of interest, in the photos and in the video you can see Kibibi with a blindfold and cottonwool in her ears. This is because the sedation has to be as light as possible. Even unconscious, lion instincts can kick in, so the team works as quickly, calmly, and quietly as possible. Every now and then, Kibibi would let out a little growl and we were reminded just how seriously we should take the situation.
Kibibi weighs 150kg and is around 3 years old. Her Kalahari lion genes, and maybe even her pride’s preference for buffalos, make her 30kg heavier than the average for a fully-grown lioness.
Kibibi was loaded up into Nick’s plane and flown the nearly 1000km to Babanango where she was reunited with her little sister. Word has it that they were overjoyed to be back together. I’m thrilled that once settled, they’ll be able to meet up with the new Babanango male and have their own offspring and create a pride of their own. I have no doubt they’ll thrive.
the bateleurs
The Bateleurs is a unique non-profit organisation of volunteer pilot members who give their aviation skills, the use of their privately-owned aircraft, and their time for free in support of conservation and the environment in Africa.
The Bateleurs’ goal is to provide a free-of-charge aerial service to beneficiary organisations that require either an aerial perspective on environmental issues to enable sound decision-making or aerial assistance towards conserving beleaguered and/or endangered species.
babanango game reserve
Over the last five years, the Babanango Gamer Reserve has embarked on one of the largest game translocation projects in the country, selectively sourcing over 3,000 large mammal species and sensitively reintroducing them back to wilderness areas where once such species roamed freely. The reserve has successfully reintroduced a wide variety of endemic species, including endangered black rhino, and rare antelope such as oribi and klipspringer and in June 2023, the reserve reintroduced elephants, completing the ‘Big 5’.