10 most-asked rhino questions—answered by a wildlife expert

Meet the Expert

This episode features WWF conservation expert Bas Huijbregts, who talks us through successful rhino conservation in Namibia.

• Bas Huijbregts, African Species Director, Wildlife Conservation Program

Learn more

• Rhinos
• Namibia records lowest rhino poaching in more than a decade
• How thermal cameras and AI are powering rhino conservation success in Kenya
• Wildlife Crime

Transcript

Callie: Hey everyone, I'm Callie from World Wildlife Fund, and today we are answering your most relevant questions about rhinos. Welcome back to Wildlife Café. Grab a coffee or tea and let's get rowdy for rhinos in today's conservation coffee chat.

Number one: why are rhinos endangered, and how many rhinos are left?

There are five living species of rhino, two in Africa and three in Asia. In Africa, the white rhino and the black rhino, and in Asia, the greater one-horned or Indian rhino, the Javan rhino, and the Sumatran rhino. Today, fewer than 28,000 rhinos remain in the wild across all five species, down from an estimated 500,000 at the start of the 20th century.

Believe it or not, southern white rhinos are actually a conservation success story. They were thought to be extinct in the late 1800s, with fewer than one hundred individuals discovered in South Africa in 1895. But thanks to decades of protection, there are now around fifteen to sixteen thousand of them, and they're classified as near threatened, the only rhino species that isn't endangered.

But there's also a tragic side to the story. The northern white rhino subspecies is functionally extinct, with only two individuals, both female, left on Earth.

Black rhinos were hit even harder. Between 1960 and 1995, poaching wiped out about 98% of the population, dropping them to under 2,500 individuals. Conservation efforts have helped them recover to around 6,300 to 6,800 today, but they're still classified as critically endangered.

The greater one-horned rhino has rebounded to just over 4,000 individuals, mostly, as in 70%, in India and Nepal, and is now considered vulnerable.

But the Javan and Sumatran rhino are in serious trouble. Fewer than one hundred Javan rhinos remain, all in a single protected area in Indonesia, and the Sumatran rhinos may number as few as 34 to 47 individuals. Both are critically endangered and could disappear in our lifetime without urgent action.

Number two: what do rhinos eat?

All rhinos are herbivores, but different species eat differently depending on their lip shape. White rhinos are generally grazers. Their name actually comes from the Afrikaans word "wijd", meaning "wide", referring to their broad square lips built for cropping grass close to the ground.

Black rhinos, on the other hand, are browsers. They have pointed prehensile upper lips, almost like a small version of an elephant's trunk, that lets them grab leaves, twigs, shoots, and shrubs.

Asian rhinos eat a mix of grasses, leaves, fruit, and aquatic plants depending on their habitat.

Because they're so large, rhinos need to eat a lot, often spending much of the day grazing or browsing to fuel their multi-ton bodies.

Number three: how long do rhinos live?

In the wild, most rhino species live around thirty-five to fifty years, and they can often live even longer under human care. Females typically don't start reproducing until they're around six to seven years old, and pregnancy lasts from fifteen to eighteen months, one of the longest gestation periods of any land mammal.

Number four: how strong and how fast are rhinos?

Rhinos are basically armored tanks. White rhinos are the second largest land mammal after elephants, with males weighing up to five thousand pounds or more, and their thick, folded skin can be an inch and a half thick in places.

But despite that bulk, rhinos are surprisingly fast. Depending on the species, they can run between 25 and 34 miles per hour in short bursts, and black rhinos are considered the fastest of the bunch. For comparison, that's faster than the fastest human sprinters. So if you ever see one in the wild, admire it from a very safe distance.

Number five: so why are rhino horns so valuable?

Sadly, this is why rhinos are in so much trouble. Rhino horn is made of keratin, the same protein found in human hair and fingernails, and there's no scientific evidence that it has medicinal benefits. But in parts of Vietnam and China, rhino horn has been used in traditional remedies and is sometimes believed to cure ailments.

It is also purchased as a status symbol, luxury item, or prestigious gift, and may be carved into ornaments or other high-value products.

Because demand remains high and horn can sell for extraordinary sums on the black market, organized criminal networks are willing to pay poachers to kill rhinos and smuggle the horns across borders, making rhino horn one of the most valuable illegal wildlife products in the world gram for gram.

What's more, this trade is primarily online now, particularly happening through social media. One recent analysis alone found nearly 267,000 wildlife products for sale across 61 marketplaces, worth an estimated 66 million dollars.

Number six: do rhino horns grow back?

Yeah. Since the horn is keratin like hair or nails, it grows continuously throughout a rhino's life. In some conservation areas, wildlife managers carefully and humanely trim rhino horns, a practice called dehorning, specifically to make the animal less of a target for poachers. The horn does grow back over time, though it can take a few years to reach its previous size.

Of course, that's very different from poaching, where the horn is hacked off at the base, sometimes killing the rhino.

Number seven: rapid fire, four really cool rhino facts.

Number one: are rhinos aggressive? Rhinos generally prefer to avoid people, but they can be unpredictable. Because they have poor eyesight, they sometimes charge at things they perceive as threats, even trees or rocks, and mothers are especially protective of their calves.

Best rule, give rhinos plenty of space!

Number two: can rhinos swim? Yeah. Rhinos are great swimmers and enjoy wallowing and submerging in water and mud to cool off, protect their skin from the sun, and ward off insects.

Number three: do rhinos make noise? Definitely. Rhinos grunt, snort, growl, and even let out bellow-like calls, along with huffing and panting sounds. They also communicate through scent using shared dung piles called "middens" to mark their territory.

Number four: do rhinos lay eggs? No. Rhinos are mammals, so they give birth to live young after a long pregnancy of about 15 to 18 months, just like elephants. Egg-laying mammals, called monotremes, are a very different and very small club that includes only the platypus and a few species of echidna.

Number eight: why are rhinos important?

Rhinos are ecosystem engineers. White rhinos and one-horned rhinos, as heavy grazers, help maintain open grassland habitats that benefit countless other species, while their grazing patterns shape the landscape itself.

Rhinos are also considered an umbrella species. Protecting the vast, healthy landscapes rhinos need also protects the many other plants and animals that share their habitat. And as one of the most ancient mammal lineages on Earth, rhinos are a living link to a world that existed millions of years before us. Another fun fact: they have existed for over fifty million years, making them one of the few large mammal groups still around today.

Number nine: so why are rhinos in trouble?

Poaching for the illegal horn trade is by far the greatest threat to rhinos. Criminal networks target rhinos across Africa and Asia to supply demand for horn in traditional medicine markets and as a status symbol. Because a single horn can be worth an enormous sum, poachers are often well-funded, well-armed, and difficult to stop, even with dedicated ranger patrols.

Habitat loss and fragmentation are also major threats. As human populations grow and land is converted for agriculture, settlements, and development, rhinos have less space to roam, forcing many populations into small fenced sanctuaries. That crowding can lower breeding rates and increase competition, disease, and injury.

Political instability, weak law enforcement, and corruption in some rhino range countries make it even harder to protect existing populations from organized poaching syndicates.

Number 10: so what is WWF doing?

At WWF, we are working to secure a future where rhinos can thrive alongside people.

First, we support anti-poaching efforts on the ground, funding ranger patrols, tracking technology, and wildlife crime investigations and prosecutions to disrupt the criminal networks behind the horn trade.

In Nepal, the implementation of an innovative 'Zero Poaching' framework led to the country's achievement of seven 365-day periods of zero rhino poaching since 2011. This test run established the framework as one of Asia's strongest models for curbing rhino poaching.

For greater one-horned rhinos, we also help actively manage habitat to maintain grasslands, work on disease surveillance, and help with translocations to expand populations.

Second, we work alongside local communities to create conservancies, areas where communities manage and benefit from the wildlife on their land. In Namibia, for example, this community-led model has helped build back a black rhino population, the largest unfenced population of animals roaming freely on communal land in the world.

Here's WWF rhino expert Bas Huijbregts to tell us more.

“Yeah. As you mentioned, Callie, populations of the iconic black rhino declined dramatically in the 20th century. While populations have recovered to around 6,800 animals from their all-time low in 1995, wildlife crime, in this case poaching and black market trafficking of rhino horn, continue to plague the species and threaten its recovery.

Other challenges for black rhino conservation also include the impact of drought and water shortage, leading to mortality and range reduction, and the high density of black rhino in contained areas, slowing population growth.

Let me give you an example of Namibia, which is a country close to my heart and a huge conservation success story. With over two thousand black rhinos, Namibia is home to Africa's second-largest population of the species. In the country, all black rhinos are the property of the state, and most of those rhinos occur in national parks, but there are also rhinos that occur on private lands or on communal conservancies.

Namibia also has these unique opportunities to grow its black rhino population, as there is still large areas within the historical range of the species that currently don't have black rhino and can provide suitable habitat for range expansion. Especially the Khaudum-Nyae Nyae landscape in Eastern Namibia provides the largest area for black rhino population growth with the potential to carry a population of up to five hundred animals.

Also, Namibia is leading the way in combating rhino poaching through its whole-of-government approach, which involves all law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, local communities, and a broad coalition of conservation partners, including WWF.

The past year has been a really good year for rhinos in Namibia, and let me give you some examples.

So the first example is really exciting and that concerns Khaudum National Park. So back in 2024, WWF supported the creation of a small founding population in that park, helping to translocate five initial animals. And those animals are doing really well. We also believe that Fatima, who was a calf that was born in Christmas 2024 in that park, has now given birth to Felix, a newborn. We hope to see pictures of that baby soon.

Also, populations are continuing to grow and poaching is declining in Namibia. Namibia's reduced poaching trend continued in 2025. To date, only five black rhino have been poached in the whole country, which is more than an 80% reduction from our all-time high of 2015. And then Namibia established two years ago its environmental crimes court. This court, which was established with our support through a grant from the US government, is Namibia's first specialized environmental crimes court and only the second dedicated court of its kind in Africa. Its success can be measured in having achieved and continues to maintain conviction rates of wildlife criminals of over 93%.

And then maybe the last example I give is translocations of rhino. Translocations are done to start new populations in new areas within their former range, to remove animals from areas under high poaching pressure, or to remove excess animals to avoid overcrowding, inbreeding, infighting, and increased breeding rates. A total of 33 rhinos have been translocated to date this year, and some of those rhinos have been fitted with trackers to allow conservation managers to follow their movements and their health. Well, thanks, and, uh, back to you, Callie.”

Third, WWF works to reduce demand for rhino horn through evidence-based behavior change campaigns. We conduct research to understand why people buy rhino horn, then develop targeted messaging to address these motivations. We also work with trusted cultural figures, collectors, artists, businesses, tourism partners, and government agencies to amplify our messaging.

We use social media, public outreach, and targeted communications to shift social norms, increase awareness of the impacts of wildlife trafficking, and promote responsible consumer choices. The goal is to reduce the demand that fuels illegal trade and ultimately the poaching of rhinos.

Finally, along with influencing behavior change, WWF and partners founded the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, working with 51 of the world's biggest platforms like Meta, TikTok, and YouTube to disrupt the sale of protected wildlife. This collaboration enables detection of sales for products like rhino horn in the US, and since 2018, has blocked more than 63 million listings and sellers of protected wildlife.

Number 11: so what can you do?

Even if you don't live anywhere near rhinos, you can still help protect them.

First, never buy products made from rhino horn and report any you see for sale online through the platform or through the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online.

Second, if you travel to a place where rhinos live in the wild, be sure to view them in the wild responsibly, from a safe distance, and through a reputable operator who will ensure that part of your tourism dollars go back to the local rhino conservation efforts and local communities.

Lastly, share what you've learned with your friends and family, really anyone who will listen, and visit our website to learn more about rhinos.

The more people know, the more they will care and the better we can be at protecting rhinos.

Please be sure to like, follow, and share this video. In the meantime, be sure to amaze your friends with these fantastic rhino facts. We'll see you again for our next Conservation Coffee Chat on Wildlife Café.

Have a favorite rhino fact we didn't mention today? Let us know in the comments!