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An eastern black rhino calf was born in Kenya, an occasion that researchers consider good luck for the conservation of this critically endangered species.
The calf, about 6 months old, found out in the Chyulu Hills of southern Kenya thanks to a complex formula of cameras and motion sensors that track rangers in the area, said Amy Baird, deputy director of Big Life Foundation USA, a nonprofit conservation organization. he told ABC News.
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The birth is thought to be rare because there are only about 8 Americans in the small rhino population living in the area. Rangers “couldn’t really see” when they first saw the baby while checking the food, Baird said. adding that most rhino calves are born in conservation areas.
The Chyulu Hills are a remote ecosystem and very difficult to monitor, which makes the discovery even more exciting, Baird said. The calf even “disappeared” for a few months, making conservationists nervous because rhino calves are so vulnerable as newborns. stage, he added.
“When they’re this small, they have to stay very close to their mother and there’s a lot of predators and other situations,” Baird explained.
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But the baby, who doesn’t have a name yet, was spotted in February, which put researchers at ease a bit because of his physical condition and overall growth. The calf noticed that she was following her mother and learning the ins and outs of her grass bush environment, according to the nonprofit.
The rhino calf will get a call once rangers are sure it’s thriving and fitting into an established member of the population, Baird said. Investigators say his parents are a woman named Nontoyie and a guy named Dickson, Baird said.
Rangers have also not been able to determine the sex of the calf so far, according to the nonprofit.
According to the researchers, fewer than 1,000 eastern black rhinos are still in the wild. Kenya’s rhino populations have been threatened for decades due to poaching and the industry of rhino tusks, which contain keratin.
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The 1980s and early 1990s were the last time eastern black rhinos thrived in the Amboseli ecosystem in southern Kenya, Baird said. For a long time, they were even believed to be functionally extinct from the domain, but when rangers were patrolling the remote component of the When they saw footprints embedded in a domain of lava, rock and sand, they learned that some rhinos had survived, he said.
It’s very likely that increased surveillance and anti-poaching efforts have also contributed to the population’s survival, Baird said. There have been no cases of rhino poaching in the domain since 2015. Rangers also claim that the rhinos have the resources they want. survive, adding 3 water problems to supply them with blank water.
But conservationists are hopeful that the risk of poaching will be eliminated entirely.
“There will be a threat of poaching, given the price of rhinos on the black market,” Baird said.
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Black rhinos are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
Long gestation periods, 13 to 15 months, followed by an additional two-year period, make it difficult for populations that have nearly been wiped out, Baird said.
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“The program to protect them has grown,” Baird said.
The wild birth of a critically endangered black rhino in Kenya, called a “conservation success” by wildlife researchers, originally published in abcnews. go. com