West African Black Rhino Subspecies Now Extinct - Reuters

[hatrack]

JOHANNESBURG - West Africa's version of the black rhino appears to be extinct, the World Conservation Union said on Friday.

It said an intensive survey has failed to find any sign of the west African black rhino in its final refuge in northern Cameroon. On a more positive note, it said rhino numbers are on the rise elsewhere on the world's poorest continent after decades of rampant poaching and habitat loss. "As a result (of this survey) this subspecies has been tentatively declared as extinct," Dr Martin Brooks, chairman of the World Conservation Union's African Rhino Specialist Group, said in a statement after a meeting in Swaziland.

There are two species of the horned titans in Africa, the more aggressive black rhino and the larger white version. Scientists further recognise two sub-species of white rhino and four sub-species of the black. All are in fact grey in colour.

The northern white rhino is also on the verge of oblivion. "Restricted in the wild to Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, recent ground and aerial surveys ... have only found four animals," Brooks said.

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http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37159/story.htm

[xxqqqzme]

1. no, no, no, no, no, no,

This is horrible.

Sure hope that poached, powdered rhino horn worked it's magic. Robbing the earth of yet another species in the name of 'get your rhino horn aphrodisiac right here!'

[phantom power]

2. Hope all those placebo-induced hard-ons were worth it....

Because really, what does biodiversity mean in the face of the critical need for pandering to the insecure libidos of the wealthy?

[NNadir]

3. Isn't that a happy thought.

This is worse than your usual news.

It really makes one weep.