The Rhino Poaching Crisis [Infographics].

 

  

This infographic, created by Earth-touch.com, shows the dangers that rhinos face around the world. Out in the wild, rhinos have no real predators. Even tigers and lions stay the hell away from them. Their imposing physique coupled with the fact that they can go completely ballistic when provoked has taught other animals to avoid them.

Rhinos may have thick skin, but no skin layer is thick enough to protect them from the piercing of a man-made bullet. Man is the rhino’s only real enemy, and unfortunately for the beast, he is a treacherous one indeed.

This graphic begins by pointing out some basic facts about the rhino. The weight of a white rhino is 5,000 pounds, which is a little over 2,000 more pounds than the weight of black rhino, which clocks in at 2,800 pounds. The graphic is sure to note that no rhinos are actually white or black: they are all light gray. To put into perspective how heavy a rhino is, it would take 28 people or two medium cars to equal the weight of a single rhino.

Alright, so why do people kill rhinos? They want the horns. There is big money in the horns of rhinos. A single rhino horn is worth $246,000, which is the twice the price of gold. This has attracted the attention of many evil-doers, as there were 333 Rhinos were illegally killed in South Africa last year alone.

Poached rhinos are usually darted with M99, an extremely powerful substance. How powerful? So powerful that a single drop can kill a human. The reason rhinos are darted to death instead of shot is because guns (even with silencers) attract too much attention. Silently and sneakily killing them with M99 creates no obvious crime scene.

Greed and ignorance are basically the driving forces behind the destruction of the rhino. Greedy people want their horns and ignorant people believe that their horn powder has extraordinary qualities, like the ability to cure typhoid and make you more fertile.

 
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