CURRENT STATUS OF THIS BEAST

The main threat to these creatures is HUMANS . Rhino horn reaches $345 per pound ($800 per kg), which is a exorbitant amount the the africans. In the far east the price is much higher. Apparently, it is most widely used to relieve fever, rather than as an aphrodisiac.Also, a lot of horn is used for handles of ceremonial daggers. The daggers are especially important among tribes of the Arabian peninsula and Persian Gulf, especially in Yemen. Since oil wealth came to these countries demand for expensive handles rose. Consequently the price of horn went up. To young, wealthy fashion-conscious men, this simply made it more desirable and the price went ever higher. Of course more poachers went to greater lengths to go for fewer and fewer rhinos. The vicious circle spiraled out of control until rhinos ran out.

The rhino is not able to cope with human expansion. Threats come to it from increased land use as well as poachers, a parallel with the elephant's fate. By 1950, it was gone from half the territory it had occupied in 1925 and now its range is under 10% of its original land area. Twenty years ago a visitor to a park in Kenya could be certain to see rhino, but now they would have to be very fortunate.