Pachyderm

Advancing black rhino conservation in Kenya: milestones and the strategic outlook for sustaining population recovery

2025-05-22T02:03:07+00:00

The black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) experienced precipitous declines across Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, primarily driven by poaching. The decline was particularly severe for the eastern subspecies (D. b. michaeli). Kenya’s population, which once supported a significant proportion of the species, declined from approximately 20,000 to 370 individuals by 1989, at the time that the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) was established. Over the last three decades, considerable effort and resources have been deployed, and an enabling policy and legislative framework have been enacted to recover rhino populations. As a result, the declining trend has been reversed, and the number of indigenous black rhinos is increasing. Remarkable progress has been achieved through strategic interventions and population recovery initiatives, with Kenya’s black rhinos reaching a confirmed total of 1,059 individuals in 2024—marking a historic milestone. We document Kenya’s rhino conservation progression, including the current population status, challenges and future strategies aimed at supporting the long-term vision of achieving 2,000 individuals, thereby securing the future of D. b. michaeli.

Balancing boundaries: elephant movements in the changing landscape around Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

2025-07-07T05:16:12+00:00

We examine elephant movement and human–elephant conflict around Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) in northern Uganda, a landscape shaped by agricultural expansion, displacement, and ongoing land conflict. Elephant movements beyond the Park's boundaries are still poorly understood. Between 2019 and 2022, we collected data through GPS collaring (n = 5), ground observations, and crop-raiding surveys. Collared elephants favoured areas near water, tree cover, and lower elevations, with use of human-occupied areas ranging from 0–24%. Outside MFNP, they sheltered near refuge sites during the day and raided farms at night. Raiding typically targeted mid-growth crops with a median of 30% damage per affected farm. Calves were present in approximately 20% of raids, and some groups exceeded 30 individuals. Only 9% of farmers used deterrents beyond reactive chasing. Snaring injuries were recorded in 32% of observed elephants, indicating persistent poaching pressure. Unresolved land tenure, community distrust, and evictions further complicate elephant management outside the Park. We recommend prioritizing elephant protection inside MFNP by strengthening anti-snaring operations. Outside the Park, boudary communities require training for coordinated night-guarding and locally suitable low-cost deterrents. A feasibility study, in consultation with affected farmers, shoudl assess limited fencing on community lands while retaining a central corridor linking MFNP to areas further north.

Assessing crop palatability as a tool to mitigate elephant crop-raiding: trade-offs and strategies for subsistence farmers in Sagalla, Kenya

2025-05-14T00:15:30+00:00

Enabling the coexistence of elephants and humans is challenging, especially in areas where elephants venture outside protected areas to raid crops. This creates human elephant conflict (HEC), jeopardizing farmers' food production and economic security, impeding elephant conservation efforts and threatening the safety of both humans and elephants. Understanding the palatability of different crops to elephants is fundamental for mitigating raiding behaviour, however species-specific crop palatability remains poorly understood. In this study, we conducted on-site farm experiments and semi-structured interviews to evaluate the suitability and palatability of moringa (Moringa oleifera) and sunflowers (Helianthus sp.) to African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) in comparison to the highly palatable and locally valued maize (Zea mays). We established 30 experimental plots of the three crops across ten farms in Lower Sagalla, a community adjacent to Tsavo East National Park that frequently experiences elephant crop raiding. We assessed elephant crop palatability through foraging observations and evaluated agronomic suitability using germination and survival rates. Our findings revealed that farmers were divided in their opinions regarding the palatability of moringa to elephants; however there was a consensus that sunflowers were non-palatable to them. Our experiments confirmed that both crops were significantly less palatable to elephants than maize. We conclude that cultivating non-palatable crops represents a promising strategy for reducing elephant crop raiding and diversifying livelihoods in Lower Sagalla. Nevertheless, the success of this approach as conservation and livelihood tools depends on favourable climatic conditions, and agricultural, economic, and cultural contexts, which are highly integrated and dynamic. Additional institutional support through agricultural extension services and market development is also necessary for effective implementation.

Guidelines for contributors

2025-10-13T08:04:25+00:00

2025-10-13T07:35:28+00:00

Rhinos of the World: Ecology, conservation and management

2025-09-24T07:45:42+00:00

IUCN African rhino conservation 2025-2035, a contemporary strategic framework

2025-04-30T07:14:09+00:00

Africa's Threatened Rhinos: a history of exploitation and conservation

2025-04-29T02:56:05+00:00

Charging at life: Peter 'Mbobo' Hitchins, a life in wildlife conservation

2025-04-30T07:08:33+00:00

African Elephant Specialist Group Chair report /Rapport du Groupe de Spécialistes de l’Eléphant d’Afrique

2025-08-19T01:44:15+00:00

African Rhino Specialist Group Chair report Rapport du Groupe de Spécialistes du Rhinocéros d’Afrique

2025-08-11T03:08:14+00:00

Asian Rhino Specialist Group Chair report /Rapport du Groupe de Spécialistes du Rhinocéros d’Asie

2025-08-19T05:38:23+00:00

The most endangered extant rhino species is now on the verge of extinction

2025-06-09T20:32:24+00:00

Depictions of relationships between elephants and San people in the rock art of the Cederberg mountains, Western Cape

2025-07-21T06:45:09+00:00

The rock art of the San people in the Cederberg mountains in the Western Cape has the highest concentration of elephant paintings anywhere in the world and provides a unique insight into the historical relationship between San people and elephants. This relationship was one of symbiotic commensalism, whereby the San benefited from the relationship, which neither helped nor harmed the elephants. These paintings provide evidence of the reverence felt by the San towards elephants. The San regarded the elephants as beings to whom they were connected by n|om, a vibratory life force which comes directly from God the Creator and animates all living beings. The San encountered elephants not only in their daily lives but also in their imaginary mythological world, suggesting that elephants were deeply embedded in their psyche. The artwork, storytelling and mythology of the San were thoroughly practical in effect and depicted a harmonious relationship between elephants and the San. To understand this relationship, this paper compares and analyses various behavioural contexts linking the San to elephants, as depicted in 17 Cederberg rock art sites. Most researchers believe that the paintings, still visible on the rocks of the Cederberg, were created in the last 7,000 years and the bulk of the paintings of elephants, eland and lines of dancing people are at least 1,500 years old.

The missing metric: speculations on tusk curvature

2025-06-26T22:59:25+00:00

As weight is the criterion of commercial value, elephant tusks have been weighed in their millions across the centuries. More recently, it has been shown that weight, length and circumference-at-lip of the African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) are predictive of one another and, at the population level, related to age. Missing altogether are data on the curvature created by helical tusk growth. Describing this in population terms would require large sample sizes of tusks from both sexes of all ages. While natural mortality of elephants of known ages could, in due course provide sufficient data for such an analysis, at present none are available. To partially fill this knowledge gap, this paper considers available evidence to suggest how the shape of the male savannah elephant tusk changes with age and how its changing curvature may influence behaviour.

Investigating the use of olfactory cues to redirect elephant pathways in Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana

2025-07-03T23:58:23+00:00

Human-elephant conflict poses a threat to both elephants and humans. This study explored the potential of using olfactory cues on African savannah elephant pathways (Loxodonta Africana), to divert elephants from crops and human settlements. Where selected pathways used by elephants branched, we applied a treatment of olfactory-cue-rich soil to the less frequently used side to assess whether this would influence the side the elephants used. Camera traps were placed adjacent to where the pathway split to capture which side the elephants chose. During the 62-day experiment, the camera traps recorded 1,500 sightings of elephants along seven selected pathways leading to the Boteti River in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana. The results showed no immediate or sustained effect of the treatments on the usage of the pathways, possibly due to pre-existing olfactory cues on established pathways or the elephants' familiarity with the area. Elephants may have been drawn to the nearby Boteti River, reducing the potential impact of the treatments on the study-designated pathways. An interesting observation was that, at night, elephants exhibited a stronger preference for the pathways that, before the application of the treatments, had a higher rate of usage, possibly suggesting a stronger dependence on olfactory cues during darkness. While the application of the olfactory cues did not significantly impact how the elephants utilised the pathways, it is important to explore means by which we can communicate to elephants where high-risk areas are in a changing landscape and how to navigate these areas. This study highlights the need to better understand the factors that influence elephant movement patterns.

Impact of severe drought-related mortality on the subsequent dynamics of a population of African savannah elephants

2024-07-22T00:22:22+00:00

Drought-induced mortality can have major impacts on the numbers of African savannah elephants (Loxodonta Africana) in a population, with juveniles and older adults often disproportionately represented among the elephants that die. During the severe drought in south-eastern Zimbabwe in 1992, hundreds of elephants perished, especially young elephants under eight years of age. Notably, more male juveniles than females succumbed to the drought. The impacts on the age and sex structure of an elephant population may persist for many years following a drought period. This manuscript utilises data from frequent aerial surveys and a simple population model based on age and sex, including the unusual age and sex structure of the female herds recorded a year after the drought, to explore these impacts over a 30-year period in a population of several thousand elephants in southern Africa. Immediately after the drought, the number of elephants in female herds increased rapidly, but there was no corresponding increase in the number of elephants in bull groups. Male recruitment—when young male elephants transfer from their natal female herds to bull groups—decreased to low levels during the ~16 years after drought. Only when males born after the drought transferred to bull groups did the predicted and observed numbers of bulls increase. Model-predicted trends in the numbers of elephants in female herds and bull groups were a credible fit with survey estimates. The number of elephants in Gonarezhou National Park increased three-fold after 1993. Since 2013, the population has numbered ~11,000. This levelling off coincided with the movement of some elephants into areas bordering the Park.

The The recruitment pattern and inter-calving interval of the reintroduced greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) population in Manas National Park, Assam, India

2025-03-25T02:33:47+00:00

This study examines the reproductive performance and inter-calving intervals (ICI) of reintroduced greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) in Manas National Park, India, from 2012 to 2021. The Park's rhino population was previously wiped out due to poaching but has been re-established through the wild-to-wild translocations under the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 (IRV2020) and rhino rehabilitation programmes. Our monitoring and analysis reveal that translocated and rehabilitated rhinos have adapted progressively to their new environment, with 35 calves born during the study period (2012–2021). We observed distinct conception patterns among translocated rhinos that conceived before translocation compared with those that conceived after their release in Manas NP. The average ICI for rehabilitated rhinos was 2.12 to 4.41 years, while for translocated rhinos it was 1.99 to 6.30 years. Study findings indicate that the average age at first calving for the first generation (F1) was 5.65 years. Our findings indicate that rehabilitated rhinos tend to calve near human presence, close to the anti-poaching camps, while translocated rhinos preferred more isolated areas. We also observed seasonal calving patterns, with most births occurring during the monsoon (May–September) season. The study highlights the importance of effective monitoring, anti-poaching measures, transboundary collaboration, habitat management, and community support for the long-term conservation success of the rhino population in Manas NP. Our research contributes to the understanding of rhino reproductive biology in re-establishing populations and informs conservation strategies for this threatened species.

Transition and conflict: patterns and drivers of human-elephant conflict in a changing pastoral landscape of northern Kenya

2025-05-21T01:34:41+00:00

Human-wildlife conflict (HEC) represents a major challenge for elephant conservation, as it not only fosters negative attitudes towards elephants, but also has socio-economic consequences, including loss of human lives, damage to property, and loss of livelihoods. These effects often motivate retaliatory actions against elephants, including illegal killing. While abundant research exists on the socio-economic impacts of crop raiding in agricultural areas, HEC in pastoral areas remains understudied and poorly understood as a conservation challenge. Here, we explore the nature, spatiotemporal trends, and potential drivers of HEC in 12 community conservancies of the Laikipia–Samburu ecosystem, a pastoral landscape of northern Kenya interspersed with expanding areas of agriculture. We analysed a decade of HEC records (2012–2021) and interviewed ten key informants working within community conservancies in the region. We found that HEC in our conservancies occurred throughout the study period, but different incident types peaked at different times of the year. Most HEC incidents occurred during the dry season when competition for resources increased. Incidents involving livestock and human injuries and fatalities were more spatially dispersed compared to crop raiding, which was concentrated in agricultural areas. The interviews revealed an array of issues that drive conflict, including environmental changes, socio-economic pressures affecting pastoral communities, and political motivations. Accumulated frustration due to the ongoing conflict emerged as a primary cause of increasingly negative attitudes toward elephants among the pastoral communities, leading to elephant mortalities. Understanding the underlying causes of conflict will be essential for developing effective mitigation strategies.

Pleistocene rhinoceros tracks from the Cape coast of South Africa

2025-06-06T13:10:52+00:00

Ichnological sites have the potential to corroborate and complement the traditional body fossil record. Seven Pleistocene tracksites, attributed with varying degrees of confidence to rhinoceros trackmakers, have been identified on aeolianite surfaces on South Africa’s Cape south coast. Thus far only one track has been assigned to a trackmaker species. In combination, these sites appear to provide the only reported fossil rhinoceros tracks from the middle and late Pleistocene. They thus form an important part of the global record.

Using drones as ground-based camera systems with multiple coordinated sensors to study African elephants (Loxodonta Africana)

2025-05-15T07:01:50+00:00

The reaction of African elephants towards African honeybees in northern Botswana

2025-05-30T02:43:57+00:00

Morphometrics: elephant back and tail lengths

2025-04-28T05:50:59+00:00

Savannah elephant foot metrics

2025-06-09T02:14:16+00:00

The relationship between Glyrostigma rhinocerontis and rhinos in East and southern Africa

2025-06-24T02:34:05+00:00