Project update - September 2005

Black Rhinos and Calves
by Sue Downie & Lucky Mavrandonis

As I write this article, my thoughts go to Blythe Loutit, who sadly died in May, but we remember many many years ago in the late 1980s when we walked in the Namib Desert with Blythe and David tracking black rhino. We found the rhino sleeping in the midday sun in the sparse shade of a euphorbia bush. We watched the rhino for some while, he was fast asleep blissfully unaware of the curious humans watching him. Little did Lucky and I know that tracking, monitoring and spending many hours watching sleeping rhinos would become an overwhelming passion of ours, thanks to the DSWF.

Khora & 2-week-old calf : 19 February 2005

It is very difficult to tell when a rhino is pregnant, even the experts and vets cannot decide if a rhino cow is pregnant or in very good condition. So it was a wonderful surprise in mid-February, after watching a sleeping rhino for an hour, we spotted a tiny calf, and identified the mother as Khora a young 9-year-old female with her second calf. The calf was not more than 2-weeks-old, a rare sight in the wild.

We observed them for 5 hours - they slept, the little calf bumped and pushed mum when she was hungry, Khora browsed a little and slept a lot.

About 250 m away from Khora and the little calf, we saw Shibula (21 years old) and her 16-month-old male calf, Noors (named for the local nutritious euphorbia plant), sleeping as well. After observing for 4½ hours, Khora got up, stood for a while and then started walking towards Shibula and Noors, with the little calf running behind to keep up with mum's walking pace.

Shibula & Noors (5-months-old) : 29 February 2004

Blom & Guy (10 months old) : 5 August 2005

Black rhinos are supposed to be solitary, aggressive and hide new calves for a couple of months, and here was Khora taking her calf to Shibula and Noors. Very interesting. However, we have on several occasions seen all three rhino mothers (in this population) and their calves, together with older calves, all together, interacting, greeting by rubbing noses and bodies.

When they come together, the calves run ahead and greet each other first and then happily browse together. We've observed male calves chasing each other around the bushes, having mock fights, pushing and shoving each other head to head.

Blom, the matriarch of the population, is about 24 years old and she has had 10 calves, 9 of which are female and the latest, born in October 2004 is a male! Blom and Guy were seen very recently at a distance of 150 m, and they both browsed without being aware of us

Lucky found Sasha (also 9 years old) and recently moved to a new area, with a very tiny calf, probably born mid July so also only 2 weeks old. They slept most of the time during the daylight observations. It is very interesting to note that Sasha and her calf were within a 1 to 1½ km radius of Blom and Khora and their calves. This first sighting of Sasha and her new calf was at a distance of over 1 km.

These observations are so important and the vital information is passed onto the rhino managers in our National Parks, to assist them in building up and improving on their knowledge of black rhino, and also for them to consider the social impact on the rhinos if any decisions are taken to move them, and also to ensure that we give the rhinos the best opportunity to breed and increase their numbers after being decimated by poachers in the past.

We thank the DSWF and David for their generosity in funding the direct costs of our rhino monitoring programme - our time and services are volunteered and free of charge.

We appeal to visitors to the website to support the DSWF, who in turn support valuable projects like ours. Every single rhino is important. Every small donation counts and our planet needs every one of us to help in whatever way we can. So thank you all very much for your support.

Sue Downie and Lucky Mavrandonis
28 August 2005

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