Sacrificed on the altar of ignorance

Rhinos are in the news and for all the wrong reasons. Suni, a northern white rhino, was found dead at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on October 17. 

He was one of the last of his race. Two weeks later, 18 rhinos horns were seized at Johannesburg Airport, the largest such haul ever made in Africa. Meanwhile, the Kruger Park Times reported that 408 rhinos were killed in the park between January 1 and August 9.

Analysis of their DNA shows the ancestors of the northern white rhino and those of the southern race separated at least a million years ago. Some experts consider the northern to be a distinct species rather than a sub-species.