Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
set. Their futility in life was touching.
Mazunga South Entrance:
We met Blondie, the manager for Mazunga, and his pleasant wife, Katrina, who introduced
us to her delightful Labrador dogs. I asked Brent if I would be allowed to shoot a buffalo if a
reason arose and he said he would check with Blondie. I did not have a license for a buffalo.
The meat would go to the local population, including hopefully the scrawny starving looking
kids with big pot bellies from protein malnutrition (Kwashikor) we had seen begging at the
gate. Meanwhile Katrina set off with Bruce and me to meet a young rhino that had been found
near where his mother had been shot by poachers a week before. She had been poached and
killed for her horn. Sadly, as we learned later from Norman, the ranger who commanded some
80 automatic weapon armed game guards, another one of her older calves had also been killed.
These were the first two rhinos poached in the area in the last 1 ½ years. The government has
gathered rhinos from around Zimbabwe and shipped them to Mazunga for security under
Norman and his crew of armed guards. Also on site but working for a rhino protection
organization, Natasha helped with fund raising for the rhino's protection. (As of 2008 375 of
Zimbabwe's black rhino population was protected in conservancies, accounting for 10% of the
world population at the time. Defense against poaching was aided by using local people for the
game guards and also paying local people for tips on any poaching knowledge). Although the
young bull had only been caught a week earlier he already was quite tame and would come to
the edge of his stall when called and happily took feed from humans. Black rhinos browsing in
dense bush are much more vicious and aggressive in the wild compared to white rhinos, but
when tamed they are much tamer than the white rhinos. Black rhino are also very nimble and
the idea you can sidestep them is a fallacy since they can turn very quickly, hence the true Big
Five member, whereas the white rhinos will tend to keep on running after a charge. White
rhinos grazing in open veld tend to be more placid and less aggressive in the wild, although
while on a hike some friends and I were charged by 6 of them. We expected them to charge us
based on the direction of the wind when we stumbled upon them some 20 to 30 yards away in
a mud pit with a large berm on the downwind side that they could not escape past. We quickly
climbed some thorn trees just in time before they charged. It took some convincing to climb
into the thorns trees - a true horns, or thorns, of a dilemma. In captivity white rhinos don't get
as tame. The young bulls intelligence, alertness and friendliness was striking although we
suspected that if anybody dared climb into his quartered off area he would have become a
completely wild beast
Sadly, the little brave black rhino bull was found standing by his dead mother, protecting her
from a pride of lions. Even at a young age they are very aggressive and protective. He had also
already had his horn cut off to minimize the risk of poachers killing him. Fortunately lions are
not able to attack a full grown adult black or white rhino. Similarly, they will not attack a
hippo unless they are being unwise and there are certainly examples of hippos and rhinos
killing lions who are foolish and that try to attack. When Katrina showed us the rhino she also
carried a short sjambok whip, traditionally made from the thick hides of hippos. When I asked
her why she carried it, she told me the reason was that within the headquarters fenced off area
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