Desert Black Rhinoceros

Namibia is home to the larger of two subspecies of the black rhinoceros found in southern Africa. The only population that remains in the wild, unfenced and outside reserves, occupies an arid range in the western Kaokoveld. Their preferred habitat is the mountainous escarpment, but they follow ephemeral rivers into the northern Namib as well, especially when conditions are favourable after rains. They are the only black rhinoceros in Africa that are internationally recognized as a “desert group”. Like desert-adapted elephants, they cover great distances. They walk and feed at night and rest during the day.

To meet their nutritional and bulk requirements they browse on no fewer than 74 of the 103 plant species that grow in their range. The black rhinoceros are one of the few animals to eat fibrous welwitschia leaves, and they even feed on milkbush with its sharp spines and toxic latex, presumably because of the high water and fat content; yet the physical defences of these dry land plants cause them no apparent harm. Once widespread in the subcontinent, black rhinoceros are an endangered species. The smaller subspecies, Diceros bicornis minor, does not range into Namibia.