Rhinoceroses

Rhinoceroses are universally recognized by their huge bodies, stumpy legs and either one or 2 dermal horns. In some species, the horns may be short or not obvious.

They are celebrated for having poor vision, but their senses of smell and hearing area unit well developed.

The biggest of the five living species area unit Africa's white perissodactyl and Asia's bigger one-horned rhinos.

These two species have conjointly seen their numbers increase considerably in recent years due to thriving conservation efforts. The white rhino is currently classified as close to vulnerable, while the bigger one-horned perissodactyl has affected from vulnerable to vulnerable.

However, they remain at real risk from cookery, which has seen a fairly increase since 2008. And this poses a major threat to the survival of all rhino species, particulalry Asia's critically endangered Javan and Sumatran rhinos and Africa's vulnerable black rhino.

But there is hope. The white rhinos and greater one-horned rhinos were saved from vanishing, and black rhino numbers have conjointly multiplied, although they area unit still simply a fraction of their variety fifty years past.
Although international trade in perissodactyl horn has been prohibited underneath CITES(Convention on International change species of Fauna and Flora) since 1977, demand remains high, particularly in Vietnam – supply perissodactyl cookery in each Africa and Asia.

Powdered horn is used in ancient Asian medication as a supposed cure for a variety of sicknesses – from hangovers to fevers and even cancer.

There has been a huge surge in cookery since 2008, particulalry in South Africa, which has seen record numbers of rhinos boiled in recent years, including 1215 in 2014 alone.

The current crisis has been primarily driven by the demand for horn by upper-middle class voters in Vietnam. As well as its use in medicine, rhino horn is bought and consumed strictly as a image of wealth.

Poaching gangs use progressively subtle ways to evade authorities – together with helicopters and night vision instrumentality to trace rhinos, and veterinary drugs to knock them out. This means governments and conservationists have to be compelled to match this level of technology to be ready to tackle the matter.