14 DAY TRIAL // It's bad news for biodiversity. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has declared the western black rhino, i.e. a sub-species of the black rhino, an extinct species.
In a recent report, the organization explains that this species used to inhabit Africa, especially the sub-Saharan region.
However, no western black rhinos have been seen on this continent since 2006, hence the IUCN's concluding that the species has gone extinct.
The IUCN warns that, according to information provided by wildlife researchers, it is likely that Africa's northern white rhino will also fall off the biodiversity map.
The organization explains that this will happen sooner that anyone might explain, and that poaching, coupled with the failure to implement proper conservation projects, will be to blame.
The Inquisitr quotes Simon Stuart, the current chair of the IUCN species survival commission, who commented on the western black rhino's demise and the risk that the northern white rhino will soon follow in its footsteps as follows:
“In the case of the western black rhino and the northern white rhino the situation could have had very different results if the suggested conservation measures had been implemented.”
“These measures must be strengthened now, specifically managing habitats in order to improve performance, preventing other rhinos from fading into extinction,” Simon Stuart went on to argue.
The IUCN stresses that it is not yet too late to save Africa's northern white rhino. Thus, it appears that, back in the 1980s, the southern white rhino was also in danger of going extinct, seeing how merely 100 animals belonging to this species were left in the wild.
However, thanks to conservation efforts, the overall headcount for the southern white rhino eventually upped to around 20,000. The IUCN maintains that, with a little bit of luck and lots of work, there is no reason why northern white rhinos could not be saved from extinction.