How Does Saving Rhinos Help Other Animals

Invitee bloggers: Dr Jane Wiltshire and Dr Ian A W Macdonald

Most people empathise that the poaching of rhinos is cruel and could, quite perchance, drive rhinos to extinction. But why the inordinate fuss virtually rhinos? Are they special enough from an ecological signal of view, that ecosystems need them to be around?

Of class, no species should get extinct due to man, and rhinos are iconic symbols and tourism depict-cards. But aside from those audio enough reasons, exercise rhinos earn the right to stay from an ecological signal of view?

Rhinos are what we telephone call a 'keystone species' – one whose presence and role within an ecosystem has a disproportionate effect on other organisms within the organisation. That is why nosotros should fight to keep rhinos live in our wild ecosystems. The rhino has several essential roles that few people are enlightened of, and this article hopes to highlight those lesser-known environmental and biological services that they provide.

Unlike other keystone species such as lions and wolves that are noon predators, the rhinoceros is a mega-plant eater that 'significantly alters the habitat around [it] and thus affect[s] large numbers of other organisms'- the very definition of a keystone species.

Rhinos are 'keystone species' – mega-herbivores that help shape entire ecosystems by:

Geo-forming – fundamentally reshaping the land around them over fourth dimension.

By wallowing in mud puddles, they help to create natural waterholes and keep existing water holes open up.

Also, each fourth dimension a rhino wallows, a considerable amount of mud is removed and, as information technology dries or is rubbed off, the fertile alluvial soil that accumulates in dams and natural waterholes is distributed far and broad, enriching the soil far from the wallow. A 2014 study by ii scientists concluded that rhinos had a more significant touch on on the topography than fifty-fifty elephants.

Rhinos non only help keep dams and waterholes open but are besides responsible for the mini 'wallow dams' dotted around the edge of dams and waterholes that afford species coming to beverage, such as tambourine doves, some protection from predation past terrapins.

These "mini dams" also generally hold water in a way that allows antelope to have a drink with less danger of getting stuck in the mud, thus making them less vulnerable to attacks by predators who frequently hunt at permanent water sources.

Spreading nutrients and providing the footing of circuitous food chains

Rhinos swallow more than 50kg of vegetation per 24-hour interval and deposit more 20kg of dung. Females wander around their abode ranges depositing dung and males wander effectually their territories, creating dung' middens' (spots that are habitually used for defecation) every bit a territorial mark mechanism. This dung fertilises the soil and provides livelihoods for many other species. In one case dung is deposited, it's not long before dung beetles arrive at the party …

Dung beetles institute their claim to a good slice of dung by rolling it away post-haste! Once away from the dung scene, they lay their eggs in the dung ball and bury it. Some of these carefully buried breed chambers are a nutritious snack once the larvae are developed, and little carnivores/omnivores such as slender mongoose benefit greatly. This is just one example of how far the impact of rhinos stretches forth the wildlife nutrient chain. Crested guineafowl and other big birds scratch through the dung treasure trove looking for both insects and, afterwards in the season, undigested seed.

Crested guineafowl digging through rhino dung

Playing host to scores of ectoparasites, some other sophisticated nutrient chain service.

Rhino are plagued by ectoparasites such as the rhinoceros fly, which can be seen through binoculars by the score on the flanks of white rhino. The rhinoceros tum botflies spend a large part of their lifecycle in the stomach of the rhino, and their beingness is so tightly bound to that of rhinos that their numbers pass up sharply when rhino numbers decline.

Rhinos are host to ticks, too. The ticks, in plough, sustain other species such as oxpeckers which consume them. A rhino host carrying a plethora of ticks is so prized by oxpeckers that post-obit the flying path of these noisy birds is often the easiest way to locate the rhinos themselves! Terrapins, also, feed on the ticks carried past rhinos when rhinos drink and wallow at waterholes.

Modify vegetation by establishing and maintaining short-grass 'lawns.'

Brusk grass lawns are essential for the survival of certain plants, for example, short annual grasses such every bit Tragus berteronianus (Carrot Seed Grass) in an otherwise perennial grass sward; ungulates such as wildebeest; and birds such as longclaws, larks and pipits. These species cannot survive in wooded or long-grass ecosystems. White rhinos mow the grass to a height that provides suitable habitat for these species. These rhino lawns also act as areas of sanctuary during veld fires (for slow-moving tortoises, for example) and for plant species that cannot tolerate fire.

Concluding WORD

Past being one of the iconic "Big Five", rhinos play a vital role in monetising ecosystems and assuasive other less charismatic and obscure species to continue playing their ecosystem roles.

'Big Five' is a term used past large game hunters to denote the five most dangerous African animals to shoot on pes – lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino. This term has subsequently been co-opted by eco-tourism 'safari' operators and high-end, highly-priced game lodges who market a Large 5 feel as a selling point. South Africa (and to a lesser extent, Namibia) is unique in being able to provide Big Five regular sightings because of the relative abundance of rhino. White rhinoceros, particularly, pull their weight in this regard considering they are big, visible and territorial – and so are hands 'delivered' to tourists.

Nosotros promise that this brief essay will help you to realise only how important the battle is to save rhinos and for us to keep them in our protected areas, where they have lived for millennia!

Dr Jane Wiltshire is a Fellow of the Stellenbosch University'due south Africa Wildlife Economic science Institute and recently published her thesis: The Rhinoceros Horn Trade Ban: Can Scenario Conception assist build Consensus amongst highly polarised Due south African Stakeholders?

Dr Ian A W Macdonald is an environmental consultant and has worked internationally in range management and biodiversity conservation for fifty years. He was Principal Executive of WWF-South Africa and an Extraordinary Professor in the Sustainability Institute of Stellenbosch University.

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