Rhino Monitoring 2022

With the first rains for the 2022/23 season already fallen in Bubye Valley Conservancy it is looking like 2022 is going to end the same way it started – very green and very thick. Though excellent for the rhinos, these conditions do make rhino monitoring more challenging. Frequently, after hours of spoor tracking, the rhino monitors have found themselves so close to the rhino they can hear it eating, but unable to see it properly through the thick vegetation.

January 2022

October 2022

November 2022

Despite these challenging conditions over 700 identified sightings have been recorded so far this year through a combination of routine rhino monitoring, camera trapping and aerial sightings. A total of twenty new calves have been confirmed, with spoor for more seen but too small to risk tracking incase the mother and new calf be disturbed which risks separation that can be fatal in this predator rich area.

With the last two rainy season being so good the rhinos are in very good body condition. This excellent food supply has contributed to the rapid growth of the young rhinos with a number of young females achieving adequate body size to reproduce early in their fifth year. This is remarkable when the average age at first calving for the rhinos is considered seven years old.  Many of the adult cows have such good condition their necks are so large they could be confused for bulls. The photo adjacent is actually a female black rhino called Sitholiwe.

Fortunately 2022 was a quiet year for rhino emergencies with only two individuals requiring emergency veterinary attention and both instances were natural rather than poaching related. One young black bull had managed to lodge a large mopane splinter in his foot which remained embedded till it was extracted with large forceps. The other, also a young black bull, was found with significant lesions to his two front feet. The wounds were so severe he was reluctant to walk and had to be held in bomas until the wounds healed. Both bulls recovered well once attended to and the early rains will help them regain lost body condition.