Desert Black Rhino and Mountain Zebra Projects in Namibia

Desert Black Rhino project
Hartmann’s mountain zebra project

Overview

Namibia, located on Africa’s southwestern coast, is truly a land of superlatives. It has the world’s oldest desert, one of the oldest known living plants (Welwitschia plants live over 1,000 years), the second lowest human population density, and the largest free-ranging populations of black rhino and cheetah. Other iconic mammals found in Namibia’s extremely dry, rugged wilderness areas include elephants, lions, leopards, giraffe, hyena, and many kinds of antelope. Nearly 15% of Namibia’s land falls under National Park status, with an additional 40% under conservancy status. 

The Minnesota Zoo Conservation Department has a long history in Namibia. Dr. Ron Tilson, Conservation Director, lived in the Namib Desert at the world renowned Desert Ecological Research Unit (DERU) from 1976 to 1979 and was one of the first Post-Doctorate students studying the ecology and behavior of desert-adapted wildlife in the Kuiseb River Canyon. Two decades later (1999) he was followed by the Zoo’s conservation biologist, Jeff Muntifering, who first worked with the Cheetah Conservation Fund and for the past six years in the Kunene Region with Save the Rhino Trust. 

Our work in Namibia is aligned with the Zoo’s Strategic Plan to secure wild lands and wildlife beyond the Zoo’s fences and broaden our contribution to global conservation efforts. We are striving to achieve that mission in Namibia by joining forces with local communities, local and international conservation organizations, and the Namibian government to support conservation efforts for black rhino and Hartmann’s mountain zebra. These iconic animals serve as umbrella species for wilderness conservation, in that protecting them also safeguards numerous other species. 

Project location background
Within Namibia, the Minnesota Zoo now has a presence in the rugged northwest, or Kunene Region. Considered one of Africa’s last vast wilderness areas, the Kunene Region covers some 80,000 square miles of mountains and dry riverbeds that flood seasonally. Here, nature reigns and local communities still practice traditional nomadic livelihoods. Wildlife in the Kunene was decimated in the 1970s from excessive poaching and hunting, and experienced further declines in the early 1980’s due to drought.  Many populations have since begun to recover, in part due to the efforts of dedicated local conservation organizations and community involvement. To learn more about the award-winning Community-based Natural Resource Program in Namibia, visit Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism’s website. 

Desert Black Rhino Project

Black rhinos are one of five rhino species: three live in Asia (Indian, Javan, and Sumatran) and two in Africa (White and Black). Between 1950 and 1990, they experienced a catastrophic 90% decline, largely fueled by the black market demand for their horns. Currently listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), only about 4,000 wild black rhino remain, living in small fragmented populations scattered across southern and eastern Africa. One-third of these rhinos call Namibia home, with nearly all (~150 individuals) of the desert-adapted subspecies occurring in the northwest Kunene region. This population is the largest unfenced black rhino population in Africa.

The Minnesota Zoo, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy’s Africa Program, is joining forces with a local conservation organization - Save the Rhino Trust (SRT). Having operated in the Kunene Region for over 25 years, SRT’s work represents one of Africa’s only black rhino conservation success stories, in that the wild population has more than tripled since the early 1980’s. Minnesota Zoo staff, Jeff Muntifering, has been working with SRT in Namibia since 2002 and has served as their Science Advisor since 2006. The Minnesota Zoo’s Desert Black Rhino Project is using science-based techniques to help identify the most promising wilderness areas to restore black rhinos. Once areas are prioritized and selected for black rhino re-establishment, customized training programs on approaches for conducting responsible rhino tourism and monitoring activities will be conducted. Overall, the project strives to continue expanding the Kunene desert black rhinos’ range while ensuring that key wilderness areas are given priority conservation status and sustained through responsible tourism that benefit local communities. For more information, visit Save the Rhino Trust and the Nature Conservancy’s Africa Program

Make a donation in support of the Desert Black Rhino Project.     

Hartmann’s mountain zebra project

Hartmann’s mountain zebras (Equus zebra hartmannae) are a lesser known zebra subspecies primarily inhabiting dry and mountainous regions of Namibia. Their conservation status is considered “vulnerable” due to their small population size (approximately 9,000 mature individuals) and possible overharvesting. 

TIn 2009, the Minnesota Zoo plans to conduct a pilot study on this zebra in Namibia’s Kunene Region.  Local biologists believe several thousand mountain zebras still exist in this largely unprotected area. Our pilot project aims to test methods and collect baseline information that will lead to the development of a long-term study on their ecology, behavior, and conservation. Later we hope to extend the study to mountain zebra populations inhabiting the Namib Desert region of southern Namibia in collaboration with the Gobabeb Training and Research Centre.

It is currently difficult to devise a conservation plan for Hartmann’s mountain zebras because so little is known about them. Fragmented populations are scattered throughout the country—some in national parks, some in conservancies managed by local communities, and some on private lands. Very little is known about their seasonal movements or population trends, or whether individuals move among scattered populations. Our long-term objective is to investigate mountain zebra movements and habitat use, gene flow among populations, and grazing and drinking habits. We intend to model and map mountain zebra habitat suitability and initiate practical long-term monitoring measures to assess changes in population size over time. Our ultimate goal is to work with local communities, local conservation organizations, and the Namibian government to create a regional conservation action plan for Kunene mountain zebras and contribute towards a national conservation action plan.