Six critically endangered black rhinos were flown from South Africa to Chad on Thursday in a pioneering project to re-introduce the animals to a country where they were wiped out by poaching nearly 50 years ago.

The wild black rhinos were loaded onto a plane at Port Elizabeth airport on the South African coast in a 3,000-mile (4,800-kilometre) journey to Chad's Zakouma National Park.

After the translocation, which took two years of planning, the rhinos will be released into small enclosures before being allowed to roam freely through the vast park.

Security has been strengthened at Zakouma, in the south of Chad, with officials saying that poaching has been "practically eliminated" thanks to African Parks, an international conservation group.

"All too often, headlines on rhinos are about their demise as they teeter on the brink of extinction," said African Parks chief Peter Fearnhead.

"However, today we are participating in an historic event and peering into a brighter future for this species which has persisted on this planet for millions of years."

The four females and two males were taken under police escort by road from the Addo park in South Africa to the airport in special ventilated steel crates that were loaded into the plane by a crane.

Teams of vets monitored stress levels in the animals after they were sedated with darts.

- 'Truly hopeful story' -

Fernhead said the project was a "truly hopeful story for rhinos across Africa", and that it would encourage population growth and boost biodiversity in Chad.

Fewer than 25,000 rhinos, of which just 5,000 are black rhinos, remain in the wild in Africa due to a surge in poaching.

Black rhinos are rated as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Rhinos are targeted to feed a booming demand for rhino horn in China, Vietnam and other Asian countries, where it is believed to have medicinal qualities.

Northern white rhinos disappeared from Chad several decades ago and the last western black rhino was recorded there in 1972, after decades of poaching pushed both subspecies to local extinction.

African Parks assumed management of Zakouma in 2010 and secured the park from poaching, allowing wild animals to thrive.

The park has a dedicated rhino ranger unit to ensure the animals will be protected, as well as a well-equipped law enforcement team and aerial surveillance.

"It is a mark of the strength of our partnership with African Parks and the transformation of Zakouma into a secure sanctuary that we are now able to bring rhinos back," said Chad's ambassador to South Africa Youssouf Mahamat Itno.

African Parks reintroduced rhinos to Rwanda in 2017.

Related Links
Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Extreme mobility of mantis shrimp eyes
Bristol UK (SPX) May 02, 2018
New research, led by biologists from the University of Bristol, has uncovered fresh findings about the most mobile eyes in the animal kingdom - the eyes of the mantis shrimp. Mantis shrimp vision is extraordinary, both in terms of their colour vision and their ability to see the polarisation of light. Not only this, but they have extremely mobile eyes that never seem to stop moving. While most animals keep eye movements to a minimum to avoid blur, mantis shrimp apparently go out of their way ... read more