Diceros bicornis ssp. bicornis

While the total number of mature individuals (i.e., those aged 7 years+) now exceeds 1,000 individuals this threshold number was probably only reached around early 2010 (based on extrapolations, AfRSG and SADC RMG population estimates  and an empirically derived adult % of 55.8% for 2005 and 2006).  To  qualify to be reclassified as Near Threatened (NT) requires there to have been more than 1,000 adults for at least five years and this is currently not the case and so the rating remains Vulnerable (VU).  Numbers of the subspecies are continuing to increase, numbering 1,920 individuals by the end of 2010.   Despite the facts that there are fewer D. b. bicornis than D. b. minor, in fewer subpopulations, and in fewer countries, D. b. bicornis still  qualifies to be listed as VU because numbers of this subspecies have (in contrast to D. b. minor) increased over the last three generations.  The significant increase in commercial poaching in neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe and increasing black market horn price and hence increasing illegal demand poses an ongoing threat to this subspecies.

IUCN. 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2011.2). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 10 November 2011).