WWF Data Unlocks New Insights into Black Rhino Behaviour
More than two decades of monitoring data from WWF's Black Rhino Range Expansion Project (BRREP) is yielding significant scientific findings on the behaviour of the critically endangered black rhino. Launched in 2003 as a pilot project to bolster rhino numbers, BRREP now tracks 420 individual rhinos across multiple sites, and researchers from the University of Pretoria have begun mining that dataset to better understand birth patterns and social dynamics within the species.
Two studies have produced notable findings. The first, using GPS movement data, identified distinct behavioural shifts in female rhinos before and after giving birth, enabling population managers to pinpoint birth dates and birth site selection far more accurately than previously possible. The second, published in the journal Oikos and drawing on nearly 70,000 sightings of 542 rhinos over 20 years, found that social interaction among sub-adults plays a meaningful role in reducing aggression-related mortality in later life - a factor researchers say should inform which individuals are selected for future translocations. BRREP population manager Ursina Rusch noted that the findings mark a shift from anecdotal decision-making to "pragmatic, science-backed decisions" in rhino conservation management.
Source: World Wildlife Fund
