Some cultures still think their horns have medicinal value.
A rhino story in the Sunday paper caught my eye. It suggests that licensed hunting can be an effective (though understandably controversial) approach to conservation. Poachers are not known for paying taxes, but a hunter paid $350,000 for the chance to hunt a troublesome bull rhino which was too old to breed but was preventing other rhinos from breeding. "He’s killed a couple of calves, a couple of cows and a breeding bull" (the rhino, not the hunter). Meanwhile, The northern white rhinos are out of luck, but the southern white rhinos were once on the brink, and have made a recovery. How did this happen? The infographic provides a lead. A short paper tells the story. While southern white rhino numbers rose, populations of the other rhino species declined. This included the African black rhino and three Asian species. Why did the white rhino thrive whereas the others did not? In short, South Africa and a few other African countries adopted policies that created the right incentives for rhino conservation.While they argue that the lives of belligerent older rhinos should be spared, they [animal rights groups] are not willing to meet the estimated $10,000 cost of moving each problem animal by helicopter, and Namibia says it cannot pay that cost.
In 1900, the southern white rhinoceros was the most endangered of the world's five rhinoceros species. Less than 20 rhinos remained in a single reserve in South Africa. By 2010, white rhino numbers had climbed to more than 20,000, making it the most common rhino species on the planet.
The "northern" ones are not even a distinct species from the southerners. Granted, they haven't seen each other for a million years, but one solution would be to truck a few thousand beasts north out of South Africa. Another approach (already tried) was to interbreed the two groups. Maybe there is some distinctive DNA in the northern group, but we're not trying to rescue every distinct genome, are we? The article hints at a third solution which would probably work great except that no one likes it. This is not some varmint pest that people want to eliminate. The rhinos are "highly valued" for their ability to synthesize Viagra, or something. So instead of fighting with the poachers, sell them licenses. The poachers will have reason to keep the herd healthy and numerous. I think I have read about this being tried with elephants to some success. If the point is to keep them alive, why wouldn't we consider this?
Yes, it is sad that they are dying out. But I am not awarding a point for a species extinction. That's a lot of adjectives in the name. Only a racist biologist could tell the black ones apart. From: wasoxygen
Date: December 19, 2014 at 19:28:25 GMT+2
To: flagamuffin
Subject: northern white square-lipped lactose-intolerant rhinoceroi
Oh I don't know, if they're in the process of speciating then they'll be a different species in a while but only if we let them get there -- seems like the cost-benefit analysis is still applicable. I actually thought for a good long while about licenses, which I accept as a possible solution to emissions problems and other externalities. Ivory is a valuable commodity for art and craftsmanship, though immorally gotten -- but what if we issue licenses for things that have no value save for their importance to non-science (all in the name of protecting animals)? In 100 years, will those "trades" still be around only because of governmental legitimacy? Which method kills more elephants? I didn't have any coherent insights, so I let the email lie fallow. I need to think more about this.
I think that the species is at a point where trying to rebuild it from the 5 extant members is irresponsible. they're going to end up like Cheetahs, with problems from inbreeding. I think we have to accept that we've failed to save them and let them go.
trying to rebuild it from the 5 extant members
The species would have issues, but with effort from human beings, through programs such as introducing new genes (No idea how that would be done), or just curing issues from inbreeding, a population can be brought back.MVP does not take human intervention into account. Thus, it is useful for conservation managers and environmentalists; a population may be increased above the MVP using a captive breeding program, or by bringing other members of the species in from other reserves.