How the world’s largest rhino population dropped by 70 percent—in a decade
South Africa’s Kruger National Park has been slammed by poachers, corruption, and drought.
Rhinos in Kruger, the jewel of South Africa’s national parks, are in trouble.
The park’s rhino numbers have dropped by about 70 percent during the past decade, largely because of poaching and its knock-on effects for breeding and calf survival, according to a new assessment from South African National Parks (SANparks), which manages Kruger and the country’s 18 other major parks.
Kruger is now home to fewer than 4,000 rhinos, down from more than 10,000 in 2010. The population is divided between 3,549 white rhinos, which are grazers with square lips, and 268 black rhinos, which have pointed upper lips that help them pluck leaves and fruit from trees. Kruger’s rhinos make up about 30 percent of the
