In the Spring of 2018, the world watched as extinction happened in real time. Sudan, the last living male northern white rhinoceros died at the age of 45. Although Sudan’s death represented the end of a distinct lineage of African megafauna, it did not represent the death of a species. The other subspecies of Ceratotherium simum, the southern white rhino, still roams wild in the savannahs of Southern Africa.
Rhinoceros conservation has often been a story of too little too late. Today, three of the five remaining species of rhino are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). But, even critically endangered species can sometimes make a comeback.
