thosewhohavepassed:Entry 6: Western Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis longipes)Once found throughou
thosewhohavepassed:Entry 6: Western Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis longipes)Once found throughout the sub-Saharan African savannah, this genetically unique subspecies of rhinoceros found itself the target of poaching for its large, keratin horn. They weighed in at 800-1,400 kg (1,800-3,100 lbs) though they fed entirely on leafy greens and shoots. This large browser would sit out the hottest parts of the day in wallows or under shade, relying on birds, such as the red-billed oxpecker, to detect any threats due to their near-sightedness.It was believed that their horn had medicinal powers in some Chinese cultures, providing a supposed effect on male incontinence, headaches, arthritis, and to be used as a poison detector. It was also upheld as a symbol of power in local African and Middle Eastern cultures, who sometimes created daggers hilts and other ornamentations from the horn. The hunt for this horn, which left the animal dead from the violence of such deaths even though the horn was not a part of it’s skull, dwindled their population from 850,000 in the 1900s to just 10 in 2000.The last reported sighting was in the Northern Province of Cameroon in 2006.Extinction Date According to the IUCN Red List: 2011 -- source link