cover image Rhinos: Endangered Species

Rhinos: Endangered Species

Malcolm Penny. Facts on File, $19.95 (116pp) ISBN 978-0-8160-1882-6

In the past 16 years, the Black rhinoceros population has plummeted from 65,000 to 4000, the decline due mainly to poaching. Of the five species, four are on the brink of annihilation. British zoologist and filmmaker Penny here surveys the state of rhino populationsthe Black and White in Africa, the Great Indian One-horned in India and Nepal, the Javan in Indonesia and the Sumatran in Indonesia, Burma and Malaysiaand gives the distribution, range and life history of each species. He also discusses the medical uses of rhinoceros products, important in traditional medicine among the Chinese and Japanese; he notes that a rhinoceros-horn handle on the ceremonial daggers worn by Muslim men is a status symbol in the Arab states. Penny examines conservation efforts in Africa and in Asia, where habitat destruction is the problem rather than poaching, and he cites organizations working to save the rhinoceros from extinction. Photos. Natural Science Book Club alternate. (March)