Horn of Darkness

Rhinos on the Edge

Carol Cunningham, Joel Berger (Autoren)

Buch | Hardcover

256 Seiten

1997
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-511113-2 (ISBN)

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Addresses the future for the African black rhino, and describes the author's own experiences of ecological fieldwork in Africa while accompanied by a small child. The text displays a mixture of practical conservation issues, economic considerations and personal commitment.

The worlds rhinoceroses face extinction because a part of their anatomy is valued too much. Poachers hunt and slaughter them because their horns are treasured. Once an estimated 100,000 black rhinos roamed from the Sahara to the Cape of Good Hope but now less than 3% remain. In all of Africa, there is but a single infenced population numbering more than 100 individuals, in the inhospitable barrens of the Namib Desert.

The hunger for money has resulted in the deaths of more than 160 Zimbabwean poachers as they tried to kill fro the valuable horns, Few options remain to stop the deadly harvest, Although guarded sanctuaries may now be working in Kenya, elsewhere foot patrols, helicopters, and high tech solutions have been tried and most have failed. In 1989 a radical strategy has developed - cutting the horns, The rationale is simple. If a rhino has no horns, the incentive to kill it should disappear.

What has since unfolded is a biological and political drama, Carol Cunningham and Joel Berger describe their passionate quest to help conserve Africa's black rhinos. Arriving with their 19 month old daughter in the fiercely independent country of Namibia, they undertook a fascinating study to understand how horns are involved in the social lives of this charismatic species. This book blends natural history and biology, adventure and adrenaline. Africans and local attitudes. It moves beyond the typical nature study by bringing in real world components of conservation - the delicate mix of western science, politics and economics, and personal despair and hope.

Carol Cunningham works in the Department of Environmental and Resource Studies at the University of Nevada. Joel Berger works in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology at the University of Nevada.

A Black Rhino Time Line
Map
I. YEAR OF THE MOPANE FLY [1991]
1: In the Rhino's Path
2: Bumbling around in the Bush
3: Trial by Fire
4: Etosha
5: Dark Nights and Moonlight
6: Mom
7: The Unforgiving Desert
8: A Tracker Appears
9: It Depends on Your Perspective
10: Through the Eyes of a Poacher
11: "The Missus"
II. YEAR OF THE TSONGOLOLO [1992]
12: A Caprivi Crossing
13: Rhino Illusions
14: Namib Edge
15: Buried in Sand
16: Lions and Hyenas
17: The Dead and the Brave
18: Concrete Corridors
19: Of Science and Ecology
III. YEAR OF THE SCORPION [1993]
20: The Europa Hof
21: Trails of Dust
22: Of Moths and Maggots
23: The Zimbabwe Massacre
24: Missing Calves
25: The Witch Doctor's Revenge
26: The Pelvis and the Lion
27: Horn Traders
IV. YEAR OF THE HUMAN [1994]
28: Rhino Rhetoric
29: Xenophobia
Epilogue
Postscript
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	4.9.1997
Zusatzinfo	16 pp halftones
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	163 x 238 mm
Gewicht	640 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Natur / Ökologie
Themenwelt	Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
ISBN-10	0-19-511113-3 / 0195111133
ISBN-13	978-0-19-511113-2 / 9780195111132
Zustand	Neuware