Rhinos

Five rhino species survive today — and the work to keep them here is happening right now.

Rhinos are among the largest land mammals on Earth and among the oldest.

Their lineage stretches back more than 50 million years, with close to 100 species having existed across that span of time. And for most of their existence, rhinos dominated landscapes across Asia and Africa, shaping ecosystems as they went.

What changed was us. Centuries of hunting and habitat loss reduced populations that once numbered in the hundreds of thousands to the fragile figures that exist today.

Conservation has already brought some rhino species back from the edge before; it can do it again. What it takes is protection, population management, partnership, and the refusal to treat extinction as inevitable.

There are five species of rhinos in the world, split between two continents.

Hover or tap over each card to learn more about each species.

White Rhino

Two subspecies remain. The Southern White Rhino is the most numerous rhino, with more than 16,000 animals, following one of the great recoveries in conservation history which saw the species recover from fewer than 100 animals around 1900. The Northern White Rhino is functionally extinct; only two females remain, both in a single sanctuary in Kenya.

Black Rhino

Critically Endangered. Now restricted to eastern and southern Africa, the Black Rhino was reduced to fewer than 2,400 individuals in 1994 and has recovered to more than 6,700 through intensive conservation.

Greater One-Horned Rhino

Vulnerable. Native to the grasslands of northern India and Nepal, the Greater One-Horned Rhino was down to around 200 animals at the turn of the twentieth century. More than 4,000 survive today.

Sumatran Rhino

Critically Endangered. Fewer than 80 individuals survive in fragmented populations across Sumatra and Borneo, Indonesia with 11 in a conservation breeding program.

Javan Rhino

CCritically Endangered. Less than 100 individuals, all in a single national park in Indonesia close to an active volcano. One of the rarest animals on Earth.

All five remaining rhino species share a similar ecological role.

A broad, heavy body; thick, sensitive skin; and one or two horns made of keratin, the same protein that human hair and fingernails are made of.

Despite their size and their reputation, rhinos are herbivores. They spend most of their lives peacefully browsing or grazing, depending on the species. Their eyesight is poor, but their hearing and sense of smell are acute.

Rhinos are also deeply important to the ecosystems they inhabit. By moving through landscapes, grazing or browsing, and disturbing vegetation, they create conditions that benefit dozens of other species. Lose a rhino population, and the effects ripple outward in ways that are hard to predict and harder to reverse.

Saving them follows a shared blueprint.

Due to a demand for rhino horn historically in traditional Asian medicines, and now for a wider variety of uses, there remains a demand, particularly across parts of Asia. The intensity of rhino poaching and the illegal trade in their horns fluctuates over the years, but is an ever-present threat that has to be addressed consistently if rhinos are to survive.

But protection from poaching is only part of the equation. The rhino species that have recovered did so because protection came with everything else a growing population needs: habitat management and protection, monitoring of individual animals, and the movement of rhinos into previously inhabited locations into which they can expand their populations.

Using this model, the Southern White Rhino came back from fewer than 100 individuals to more than 16,000 today. Black Rhinos climbed from under 2,500 to more than 6,700. The Greater One-Horned Rhino recovered from around 1200 animals to more than 4,000.

None of these recoveries happened fast. All of them required sustained effort, sustained funding, government support, and coordinated global partnerships. Similar approaches are being applied to the Javan Rhino and Sumatran Rhino now.

Re:wild's Rhino Conservation Work

Re:wild's active rhino conservation focuses on the two species facing the most urgent risk of extinction: the Javan Rhino and the Sumatran Rhino, both found only in Indonesia.

Javan Rhino
Rhinoceros sondaicus | Critically Endangered

Less than 100 individuals survive, all of them in a single national park on the western tip of Java, Indonesia. The Javan Rhino is one of the rarest large mammals on Earth. Re:wild is supporting the government of Indonesia and local conservation partners to protect and grow this last population and build toward a second population in an additional site.

Javan Rhinos
Sumatran Rhino
Dicerorhinus sumatrensis | Critically Endangered

Fewer than 80 individuals survive in fragmented populations across Sumatra and Borneo. Protecting the one significant wild population is critical, but the isolation of the other populations prevent these animals from finding mates. A national conservation breeding program has delivered some success and Re:wild is supporting the government of Indonesia and local partners in Indonesia to bring isolated wild animals together to grow this breeding population and reverse the decline.

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