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What have they done to your horn?

Late afternoon in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve, part of the greater Kruger National park, a group of four white rhinoceros emerged from the bushes, three of whom had been dehorned and one with his full horn still in place. In an effort to save the lives of rhinos in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve, a decision was taken to dehorn all rhinos to try and protect them from poachers. In South Africa, one rhino is slaughtered by poachers every nine hours. An anti-poaching unit now flies over the area in a helicopter to track the rhinos, who are then darted with a tranquiliser. A ground crew then move in and using a chain-saw, cut off the horn so as not to damage the face of the rhino.

White rhinoceros - Ceratotherium simum

A gentle giant, the biggest land mammal after elephants, though outweighed by the hippopotamus. Almost double the weight of a black rhinoceros, with pronounced shoulder hump. Males weigh in the region of 2 040-2 260kg, females weigh in the region of 1 660kg. New-borns weigh only 65kg, equal to 4% of their mother’s weight. Mothers are equipped to protect them against all predators expect lions. Calves run in front of their mother during flight.

Head: Massive with wide, square mouth, big ears. Horns: Front horn averages 60cm, longer but thinner in female; back horn much shorter, more triangular. Colour: Slate grey to yellow-brown. Due to the increase in demand for rhino horn, for dagger handles, medicine, aphrodisiacs, the horns are now more precious than gold.

Nikon D5 with Nikon VR80-400mm f4.5 – 5.6 ED lens
with Nikon AFS Teleconverter TC-14E III 1.4x effective focal length 220 mm, 1/640 sec @ f10, ISO 2500
Photograph by Trevor Woodburn