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World Rhino Day: What does it take to save a species?
World Rhino Day: What does it take to save a species?. Originally published by Mongabay.
By Mongabay · 2026-09-22T19:20:28.816Z
In honor of World Rhino Day, on Sept. 22, here’s a snapshot of Mongabay’s reporting from the past year on the actions being taken to save rhinos from extinction: Reintroduction in Uganda https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/decades after poaching drove them extinct rhinos are back in the wild in uganda/ In 1983, the last wild northern white rhino Ceratotherium simum cottoni living in Uganda was killed for its horn. But now rhinos are back in the country, contributor Benjamin Jumbe reported https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/decades after poaching drove them extinct rhinos are back in the wild in uganda/ in March. In the last year, at least four southern white rhinos Ceratotherium simum simum were brought to northern Uganda’s Kidepo Valley National Park and another four to Ajai Wildlife Reserve. The reintroduced rhinos are a different subspecies, because just two northern white rhinos https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/one of worlds last two northern white rhinos withdrawn from breeding program/ are alive today; both are females. “The translocation helps us not keep all eggs in one basket and create opportunities to mitigate … risks,” Robert Aruho, a veterinary specialist with the Uganda Wildlife Authority told Mongabay. Mozambique’s https://news.mongabay.com/short article/2026/06/mozambique completes first white rhino breeding population in decades/ ‘ https://news.mongabay.com/short article/2026/06/mozambique completes first white rhino breeding population in decades/ silent park https://news.mongabay.com/short article/2026/06/mozambique completes first white rhino breeding population in decades/ ’ https://news.mongabay.com/short article/2026/06/mozambique completes first white rhino breeding population in decades/ receives rhinos https://news.mongabay.com/short article/2026/06/mozambique completes first white rhino breeding population in decades/ Zinave National Park in Mozambique, the site of a decades long civil war, came to be known as a “silent park,” because the war nearly decimated its wildlife. Since 2022, 64 white rhinos Ceratotherium simum and black rhinos Diceros bicornis have been reintroduced to the park, Mongabay’s Shanna Hanbury reported https://news.mongabay.com/short article/2026/06/mozambique completes first white rhino breeding population in decades/ in June. As grazers, rhinos help maintain the grassland ecosystem, creating habitat for other wildlife and mitigating fire risk. “You can imagine if you don’t have rhinos in the park, there are very high grass levels, which is a very large fire hazard,” said Antony Alexander, with the Peace Parks Foundation. At least five healthy black rhino calves have been born in the former war zone of Zinave National Park. Rhinos reintroduced in India are breeding https://news.mongabay.com/short article/2026/06/rhinos reintroduced to indian park are breeding but still need support/?utm source=chatgpt.com In India, reintroduced rhinos are successfully breeding. Between 2006 and 2021, 42 greater one horned rhinos Rhinoceros unicornis were brought to India’s Manas National Park. Researchers followed their progress and found 40 calves have been born there, raising hope among conservationists for the future of the population, though poaching remains a threat, contributor Sneha Mahale reported https://india.mongabay.com/2026/05/reintroduced rhinos breed but recovery remains fragile/ in May. “Breeding and calving are among the most important indicators that reintroduced rhinoceroses have adapted well to their new environment,” wildlife biologist Deba Kumar Dutta, told Mongabay India. Growing rhino populations need quality habitat https://news.mongabay.com/short article/2026/07/nepals rhino translocation success in numbers masks habitat struggles/?utm source=chatgpt.com Nepal has also reintroduced populations of greater one horned rhinos to new areas including in Bardiya National Park. The rhino population in the country grew by 16.6% to 752 individuals from 2015 2021. However, the conservation success story comes with a caveat, contributor Bibek Bhandari reported https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/nepals rhino translocation looks good in numbers but not so much in habitat/ in June. Using GPS collars, researchers tracked five reintroduced rhinos in Bardiya. They found the animals traveled longer than expected distances, likely in search of water and better quality grasslands and wallowing sites. “Conservation success should not be measured only by population numbers, but also by the health and resilience of the habitats that support them,” rhino researcher Balram Awasthi told Mongabay. Banner image: A greater one horned rhino in Chitwan, Nepal. Image by Aditya Pal via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greater one horned rhinoceros at Chitwan.jpg CC BY SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by sa/4.0/deed.en .