Rhino Poaching Essay

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As people all over the world live their day to day lives, some if not most, are oblivious to any and all of the poaching of animals that is taking place all around the world today. The different species of Rhinoceros have been roaming the Earth for as long as 50 million years (2). At the turn of the 19th century, there were nearly one million Rhinos roaming the earth (5). In the mid 1970’s, there were approximately 70,000, and within the 20th century, the numbers has decreased to nearly 30,000 (5). Due to aggressive poaching operations in South Africa over the past five years, the species of the Rhinoceros has radically grown to become threatened to being critically endangered. I am extremely passionate about all animals and the conservation of them on this planet. More specifically the Rhino’s and the threat at which they have come under in the more recent years as poaching continues to become more and more of a problem in the Eastern hemisphere. There are five species of Rhinos, two of which are African and three that are Asian. The African species are the white and black Rhinos and the Asian Rhinos include the Indian, Javan, and the Sumatran Rhino (1). Today’s population consists of less than 24,000 Rhinos around the world. Nearly 90% of all remaining Rhinos live in South Africa. These beautiful creators weigh in weight on average from 750 pounds to 8,000 pounds and stand four and a half to six feet tall (1). Rhinos are also herbivores, meaning they are subject to grazing on grass, and some even prefer to eat the foliage of trees or even bushes. Rhinos are herbivores, meaning they eat only plants (1). They also have a prehensile upper lip that is ideally suited to help grasp grass (2), while other Rhinos prefer to eat the foliage of trees or bushes. With the Rhinos being herbivores, this eliminates the threat that they are to humans, unless of course a human

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