|
Home |
|
|
Home |
|
| Mkomazi - near the border of Tanzania
and Kenya |
| Preparing Mkomazi Game Reserve for
Introduction of Black Rhino Many years of planning, preparation, and hard work went into setting up a captive breeding program in the Mkomazi Game Reserve. Today, many years later, there is a thriving, though not yet breeding, population settling into a comfortable and sizable, well-managed and maintained sanctuary. In the 1980s, many dedicated conservationists and wildlife policy advocates throughout Africa realized that a serious long-term strategy program had to be developed in order to save the African Black Rhino from complete extinction. There were less than 100 rhinos in Tanzania, in very widely dispersed small population groups. There were very few left anywhere in Kenya, just north of Tanzania, as well as most of central Africa. There used to be 20,000 black rhinos as recently as the 1960s in Tanzania alone, but poaching for the valued rhino horn, and overgrazing of habitat shrunk the area and population down to next to nothing. In the face of the shrinking rhino populations, Tanzania, with the help of other African Parks, governments, and conservationists, planned a protected breeding program that would increase the black rhino numbers. Fifteen or more years later, Mkomazi Game Reserve Rhino Sanctuary is the result. The rhino sanctuary occupies 43 square miles of the total 2,200 square miles of the Mkomazi Game Reserve, with guards patrolling the electrified, alarmed fence around the sanctuary. Inside the rhino sanctuary, eight rhinos (six males and two females) are settling down to live and, hopefully, to breed a population of between 27 and 50 rhinos. |
|
| Patrolling the fence at Mkomazi |
Although the rhinos were brought into Mkomazi very recently, Rhino experts and the Mkomazi Field Director, Tony Fitzjohn, hope they can settle in quickly. When calm and better acclimated to the sanctuary, the rhinos hopefully will begin to do what comes naturally. The Park habitat has been protected for many years to allow the proper vegetation to grow back. At the same time, Reserve officials put in many years of hard work designing and constructing a state-of-the-art rhino sanctuary. There are enough dams, water supplies, and water supply lines to create enough habitable and protected territory for the rhinos to live "relatively" naturally and freely. In addition, there are 500 miles of new roads to help Park guards protect the rhinos and tend to their other needs. |
|
| Mkomazi from the air |
| The Master Plan for Saving the Black
Rhino With the population of the black rhino dwindling to next to nothing, radical approaches for conserving the species had to be implemented. There were three options: 1. The conventional approach would put the animals in a large, free-ranging conservation area. This would offer them limited, or little, protection due to the physical size of the park or reserve 2. A different approach would put the animals in a smaller, open, but intensively protected area (called an IPZ - Intensive Protection Zone). 3. A third approach would create a relatively small, enclosed, and highly protected sanctuary. Due to the fact that number one was ineffectual, as shown by rampant and savage poaching, methods two and three were adopted by wildlife officials in Tanzania and neighboring Zimbabwe. Tanzania decided that a mix of both IPZ and highly protected sanctuaries should be concentrated in several of their Reserves and National Parks. The Serengeti National Park, the Tarangire National Park, and the Mkomazi Reserve were identified as sites in Tanzania for sanctuaries for the eastern subspecies of black rhino. Because gathering together the scattered rhino population in Tanzania was extremely difficult and because Kenya's sanctuaries had no or few excess rhinos for Tanzania, officials turned to the large population of black rhinos left in South Africa at the Addo Elephant National Park. South Africa wanted to replace its population of eastern subspecies black rhino with a more indigenous subspecies, the southwestern black rhino. This made a reasonable number of eastern black rhinos, natural for Tanzanian habitat, available for transporting to Tanzania. First Mkomazi and other areas would have to be evaluated, upgraded, and prepared to handle the influx of these black rhinos from South Africa. Therefore, conservationists and rhino experts conducted several biological and non-biological investigations of Mkomazi. They wanted to assess the Reserve's suitability for the endangered species. |
Comprehension Questions: 1. When did the experts decide that a solution had to be found to save the black rhino? a. 1960s b. 1970s c. 1980s d. 1990s 2. Besides illegal hunting, what was the other great danger to the black rhino? a. Policy advocates b. too much farming c. too many other herbivores d. heavy rains 3. Physically, what is the relationship between the Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary and the Mkomazi Game Reserve? a. The sanctuary is in the reserve b. The reserve is in the sanctuary c. The sanctuary and the reserve are next to each other d. The sanctuary and reserve are in totally different places in the same district 4. How big is the rhino sanctuary? a. 27 square miles b. 43 square miles c. 50 square miles d. 2,200 square miles 5. What was the initial ratio of males rhinos to female rhinos? a. 3:1 b. 2:1 c. 2:6 d. 27:50 6. What is the maximum number of rhinos that can reasonably live in the rhino sanctuary? a. 6 b. 27 c. 43 d. 50 7. The opening of the rhino sanctuary was: a. easy because the natural environment was ready for it. b. relatively easy because there were already 500 miles of roads and many dams. c. relatively difficult because the experts wanted a traditional rhino sanctuary. d. difficult because the experts wanted a very modern rhino sanctuary. 8. Of the three options for conserving the rhino species, which did Zambia choose? a. The traditional approach of creating large, unprotected, areas for rhinos to live in b. The “Intensive Protection Zone” (IPZ) approach of open and protected areas c. The approach of creating small, fenced in, and very well protected areas d. A mixture of IPZ and fenced in areas 9. The Tanzanians were going to get their first rhinos from: a. the Addo Elephant National Park b. the Serengeti National Park c. the Tarangire National Park d. a special animal sanctuary in Kenya 10. In order to assess the suitability of the Mkomazi sanctuary, conservationists and rhino experts had to: a. conduct biological research b. conduct non-biological research c. conduct biological and non-biological research d. check with health Tanzanian officials Read and Think: 1. This reading passage mentions the “Mkomazi Game Reserve”. Look in a dictionary for the meanings of “game”. Which meaning is used here? What is ironic and strange about the name of the “Mkomazi Game Reserve”? 2. In the 1960s, there were over 20,000 black rhinos running free in Tanzania. In the late 1990s, there were less than 100 widely dispersed rhinos in Tanzania. The Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary will hopefully be a safe home for 27 to 50 rhinos. What do the numbers and the years tell you about the future of the black rhino? |
|
|
Home |