Rhinos

Alex Re

Hello, welcome to on wildlife. I'm your host, Alex R. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week. And I guarantee you, you're gonna come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. We have another awesome guests on this week's episode. And you really don't want to miss this interview, I got to talk with Emma Pereira, who is the communications manager at save the rhino. So get ready because we're heading to Africa and Asia to talk about one of the largest land animals on earth, the rhino.

There are five different species of rhinoceros, some living in Africa and others living in Asia. Some of their closest relatives are actually horses and zebras. Because there's something called odd toed undulates. This means that when they're standing, they put most of their weight on one toe, while even toed ungulates put most of their weight on two toes. Of course, we can't talk about rhinos without talking about their horns. But you'll have to wait for my interview with Emma because she has a lot of really cool stuff to say. And they live in a few different types of habitats, some of which include forests, and the savanna. The largest species is the Indian Rhino, also called the Greater One horned Rhino. And it weighs in at around 6000 pounds, and stands at over six feet tall. Being that large is a nice advantage to have when you may have to encounter some of the largest predators on earth like lions. But just because they're big, doesn't mean they're slow. They can reach speeds over 30 miles per hour. And some species can live for over 50 years in the wild, which is pretty amazing. Because they're so big, like I said before, rhinos have to eat a lot of food. And even though they're these huge creatures, they're herbivores. depending on the species, they like grass, shrubs, legumes, and leaves from trees, and their teeth differ depending on the species because of differences in their diet. Because they mainly eat vegetation. their teeth are relatively flat so that they can grind up their food. But some species have sharp incisors, which they use to shred through their food. While most rhinos fight with their horns, the Indian Rhino actually uses its sharp teeth to fight. If humans tried to eat what rhinos eat, we wouldn't be able to digest it. They have special bacteria in their guts that helps break down all those plants. And on top of all that, they have huge colons that help with their digestion. If you've ever watched a rhino grazing for food, you may have noticed that there's usually a bird hanging around on the rhinos back. Well, this is most likely an ox pecker bird, which has a symbiotic relationship with rhinos and some other large animals in that habitat. The birds stand on the backs of the rhinos, and eat any bugs off because as you can probably tell, they can't reach back there themselves. So the birds get a nice meal and the rhino gets cleaned of any parasites. This relationship where both species benefit is called mutualism. But some scientists are starting to discover that the Oxpecker birds might be parasites themselves. This is because these birds don't only like to eat bugs, they also like to eat blood. So what they'll do is they'll eat the blood from a wound that a rhino has, except it'll keep pecking at it so that the bleeding doesn't ever stop. pretty creepy. Okay, we're gonna take a break. And when we get back, you'll get to hear my interview with Emma Pereira, who knows all about these huge creatures. Who's ready for another notable figure in science? This week, I'm recognizing Charles H. Turner, who is well known for his research on insects. He discovered that some insects have the ability to hear and also figured out that bees have an idea of time and can change their behavior based on what they've learned. He's responsible for a lot of the things that we know about insects today. If you want to learn more about Charles H Turner for this series, you can check out on wildlife.org.

Okay, we're back. Here's my interview with Emma. Hi, Emma, how are you? Hi. Yeah, very good. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thanks so much for joining me today. And I'm so excited to talk about rhinos. Great to always. Well, first, can you just tell us about yourself and how you became interested in rhinos? Yeah, sure.

Emma Pereira

So yeah, my name is Emma, and I work for save the rhino International. And I've been Outside Toronto for just under three years now. And I mean, everyone loves rhinos, I don't think I've ever met someone who doesn't like them. I'm sure they're out there that don't. But really why? Let's start with how I got into it. I guess I did actually a marine biology degree at university in the UK. And I did that degree. And I do love the ocean and marine animals. But I just kind of found my way working a little bit more terrestrially in charities in London, and save the rhinos, we've had a special place in my heart, because I don't know if you guys are any of your listeners will have seen our Rhino costumes. But we have a this incredible bunch of Rhino costumes. And they run in the London math. And every year well, people obviously running them, and across the globe, really. But I love running. And so from a young young age, I used to watch them do math and and me and my mom would kind of stare at the screen and be like, Where are the rhinos and pretty stupid story, but actually is one that a lot of people say to us. And so I kind of always wanted to work beside the rhino. And yeah, three years ago, I got the opportunity to apply and, and yeah, here we are today. So I'm Communications Manager at say the rhino now. And yeah, it's brilliant. I love it.

Alex Re

That's so awesome. And I've seen the pictures of the rhinos, everybody should definitely go check it out. It's It's awesome. If you want to run then yeah, just let me know. So you talked a little bit about, say, the rhinos, you're the communications manager there. So can you just tell me about like their mission? And and what you do there specifically?

Emma Pereira

Yeah, sure. So our mission at save the rhino is, I mean, exactly how we say on aim. And we are around to save all five species of Rhino. And our vision here like is for all five species to thrive in the wild for the future. So at the moment, unfortunately, That's not right. It's not quite the case. But yeah, that's what we plan to do. So every day, we work with partners across the world to raise more money, raise more awareness, and then on the ground to make sure that projects are in place that they actually can, you know, increase in number, they can be protected from the threats that they face, and that the people protecting them are supported as well, because that's also crucial. So that's kind of the gist of what we do. And we're quite, we're quite fundraising focused, because our office is based in the UK. So that's where all of our team works. But yeah, as I said, we have partners across the world. And my job as communications manager is to, I guess, talk about rhinos all day long, which is brilliant. And but more specifically to manage our websites and manage our social media to talk to journalists and the public. And to really look at what we're saying how we're saying it. And I guess to communicate more with the, with the world about what we do. And that can be in terms of how rhinos are doing and raising awareness from a species focus and their kind of conservation side, but also trying to drive a bit more engagement online. And you know, in printed publications as well, we have an annual magazine. So I manage that. And yeah, lots of stuff, but all good. And I love talking to people about about this stuff. So I could probably go on forever. But I'll stop.

Alex Re

No, that's, that's great. And you guys are doing really important work because rhinos are, are facing a lot of issues right now. And we'll talk about that later on in the interview, but so let's just get into rhinos, so they're probably best known for their huge horn above their nose. So what is that actually made out of and what do they use it for?

Emma Pereira

So okay, though, so five Rhino species, three of them have two horns, actually. And two of them just have the one and imagine to be named the Greater One horned Rhino and sometimes the lesser one horned Rhino. Yeah, their homes across all five species are structurally if you'd like, the kind of the same thing. So they're all made up of the keratin keratin of the protein sorry, so you also find that in our nails, our fingernails and our hair, and it's it's kind of similar to like a horse's hoof structure, or a turtles beak even. And the reason they're threatened is mostly because of that horn, because it is prized in some cultures, historic historically been as traditional medicine. But more recently, in the last kind of decade, and a little bit before that, as a ornamental piece, something that is really, I guess, prized and shown as something to show someone's wealth and status. And so that's the main reason that they're threatened. But it's also why people remember the mesh, he said, that's the feature of a rhino that everyone knows about. And you know, the difference between a rhino and a hippo, most people like Well, yeah, Rhino has a horn and it doesn't. And so that's that's kind of why And in terms of how they use them, and it's a bit different for a couple of different species, but sometimes it can just be, they sort of move things out of the way with it. So black rhino, they're browsers, they're trying to find twigs and leaves and things. And actually, they probably use their horn a little bit to move some bushes around. But really, they use them for fighting a bit more than people realize. And under the kind of pushing off, I guess any predators that might be trying to attack their young or themselves if they're a little bit smaller. So it's a bit different. I have also heard of one species of running the Greater One hold, I've heard a story that they've used it kind of to dig and scratch. I don't know how true that is. But yeah, there are a few different uses. And definitely not, not in the ways that people often think about them. But yeah, they do use them. So it's good to know that they're not just there as a feature that we all love.

Alex Re

That's really cool. And you never think about a rhino because they're so big having to fight off some predators. But yeah, there's some some pretty big predators in where they live too. So

Emma Pereira

Oh, gosh, absolutely. I mean, you have to think about a mom protecting its young and, and they definitely do fight off a few things there are so I mean, I can name the amount of videos you have online of people filming rhinos, when there's, you know, fighting off lions, or hyenas or something else. Do you look them up? If

Alex Re

anyone's interested? Yeah, that's really cool. And so are rhinos, social animals, like elephants are the more solitary

Emma Pereira

and a bit of a mix of both. And historically, people thought that one species, the black rhino, in particular, was really solitary animal, mainly, because, to be honest, they're quite rare. And then not a lot of people see them all the time. But when they were seen, they were often seen on their own. And they are more territorial than other species in Africa, at least the other species in Africa. But actually, there was some footage that came out just a few years ago, of a nighttime camera trap. And there were loads of black rhino around and they will also think each other. And you know, it was kind of a moment when everyone realized they don't just live on their own and exist in their own little bubble, they do actually socialize a little, which is quite nice. But generally, if you know, if someone was lucky enough to go on a safari and see a rhino in its natural habitat, then a black rhino, most of the time is going to be on its own during the day. white rhino is a little bit different. So they do actually tend to hang around with other other Rhino friends. And they're often more seen on like open planes, which is why they tend to be seen bit more by people when they're out on those sorts of game drives. In Asia, the story's a little bit different. So again, you've got Greater One horned rhinos, the males are a bit territorial, but you might see a couple of females together. It's, yeah, it's kind of rare. And the other two species, there are so few of them. That to be completely honest, I'm not sure how sociable they are, we're on loads more, maybe we would know. But the Sumatran Rhino in particular, they really struggle to find each other to mate, which is one of the reasons that they're so threatened at the moment. So they actually end up singing to each other, to kind of get their voices heard across the rain forest and try and find a friend. And so I wonder how sociable they normally are. Because I think that's a that's a habit that I would imagine only happens when they live quite solid on their own. No, they're solitary animals. So yeah, it's a bit of a mix.

Alex Re

Yeah, that's really, really interesting. And the singing, I never knew knew that and going off of that. So you mentioned that do they have other ways of communicating with each other?

Emma Pereira

Yes, so Sumatran rhinos are as far as I'm aware, alone in that singing side. So rhinos do communicate with kind of squeaks that most people would never know with a rhino because it's, it's a bit of a softer tone, I guess. And we have an excellent video actually of Sumatran Rhino, and you can hear the recording of this summer Toronto singing in Indonesia. And actually, she's a she's one that is, she lives within the Sumatran Rhino sanctuary. And they actually, they have called her lovingly Adele after her singing voice to name is Delilah, but the keepers often referred to referred to her as Adele which is just the sweetest story. But yeah, in terms of other Rhino species, they don't really communicate in the same way. So I'm sure there would be little little Cranston squeaks if they were near each other, but it sort of wider aspect, I guess they're more communicating in terms of their territory and marking their scent in places. So some of that might be urine marks when they scratch their feet off. They've urinated and then, you know, obviously, the smell is going to be transferred over another Rhino comes across to that area. And rhinos also have they develop things called mittens, which are basically just piles of done so massive pile of Rhino poo. And again, it's a territory thing. So if another Rhino comes across that place, then they know if it's a male or a female or a family, and I would imagine, especially for males, there They're kind of noticing that and then it's the boundaries of where they be, you know, do what don't want to cross into another one territory.

Alex Re

Oh, wow. So I'm assuming they must have really good senses of smell than very, very senses of smell. Yeah.

Emma Pereira

So interesting fact about rhinos, actually, I was looking about looking at this a little bit more the other day, but they, they can't see very well. And people often think that they were born blind, they're not actually born blind, they just don't really have a very good sense of eyesight. So if you ever are in the field with a rhino, then actually, it's not necessarily about how close you all from them seeing you perspective, but they can really smell you, then they can really hear as well. So if anyone was ever tracking a rhino, then you'll often hear people making sure that you're upwind or downwind, even Robin. And so that people the rhino isn't gonna sense that you're there and then perhaps make a dash for it. But yeah, their sense of their eyesight isn't isn't that great. So I think you're laying around 60 foot and they're sort of blurry vision and not got clear who you are.

Alex Re

That's so interesting. And they're also really huge, like we talked about before, so they they must eat a lot of food. So what what do they eat? And how much do they eat in a day?

Emma Pereira

Um, well, I'm sure that different rhinos would eat different things. But in terms of them that like all of us, but in general, and they have different grazing habits, they have different, they have different foods that they like the different species, which I guess that makes sense from a natural range perspective. And so white rhinos, they have quite a wide mouth. There is a bit of a myth around that forming their name as a white rhino, which isn't quite true, but they have a wide mouth because it helps them to graze on grasslands, basically. So you'll see them with their heads down. And they're taking, you know, big mouthfuls of grass, and much like a horse, or a donkey or a zebra might do black rhinos. So both of these species are in Africa, black rhinos are different, they have quite pointy nose. So there are some really cute photos of Rhino who's cool with their nose up in the air trying to trying to grab a branch. And it will generally be a black rhino doing that. So it's a bit of a triangular shape to their nose. And that helps that species to grab it all leaves, grab little twigs, twist them off the branches. Yeah, their browsers basically. So they're trying to find those acacia trees and nibble off of things rather than just eat the grass that's on the floor. So you can tend to tell the difference between those two species just if one's heads down or one's heads up. And then you can see if their lips at that sort of different shape in Asia, and they tend to all have a bit more of a pointed nose. And they all kind of bit more browser. There's so much and writer in particular, they live in the in the forest in Indonesia, in the rain forest, and they will try and find little fruits and leaves and twigs. So yeah, anything again, they can get their hands on and one of the marks actually, because they're so rare, it's really hard for the Rangers to actually try and find them. So one of the marks that they often use to track Sumatran rhinos and Java rhinos is a twisted branch because they know that that Rhino has been trying to eat food off of that tree. So there was a there's a kind of noted down, it's recorded. And that was what a rhino was here sort of thing at that point. And then in terms of how much I mean, I understand that is about 10% of their body weight. And I mean, you're talking about huge animals so they can be the white rhino can be about two tonnes. But Sumatran rhinos, they're the smallest one. And they tend to eat about 50 to 60 kilos of plants a day. So they're all herbivores. But yes, much, and rhinos, it's a lot of food. And as I said, I mentioned this March and Rhino sanctuary. The keepers, they have to bring a lot of food into that place to make sure these rhinos have enough for their daily eating habits. And it is, yeah, it's a lot. We've got this incredible picture of one of the guys that works there on a motorbike carrying all these branches behind him. And it is just huge. I mean, if you can just imagine basically a tree sitting behind someone on a motorbike it is a lot of food. And it was just the daily quota for these rhinos. So Wow. Yeah.

Alex Re

Yeah, I can't even imagine that. And it's so interesting that their mouth shape kind of is adapted to what they eat, which is just showing nature at its finest really cool stuff.

Emma Pereira

Yeah, I know. It's very interesting. And I do love those photos where the rhinos nose is kind of sticking up and it's it's just Oh, show someone's personality. black rhinos are really key.

Alex Re

Yeah, absolutely. And I think a lot of people think because they're so big that they must be like, meat eaters or something like that. But they're they're kind of gentle giants in a way.

Emma Pereira

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I do think rhinos have this kind of people think that they're these horrible mean angry huge animals. And actually, they're there most of the time not I think we've probably got a bit to blame on that because we've not exactly treated them very well. So understandable if they want to run away from us. But yeah, generally they're they're quite gentle giants and they'll just kind of get on with things. Yeah, yeah.

Alex Re

Why are rhinos important to the ecosystems that they live in?

Emma Pereira

So, rhinos are what's called umbrella species. And basically, what that means is that by protecting them, we're also helping to protect the environment and the wildlife around them. So a great example is, I mean, I've already mentioned Rhino mittens, but you have incredible amounts of insects that need those mittens and all of that Rhino dung to survive. So it might be habitat, it might be part of the nutrition, it might be something completely different. But similarly, you have the whole environment. So you're looking at your quite large places, these are large animals in a lot of space. So if you're able to protect that whole area, because of this one species, because it's an endangered species, and you're going to protect everything else within it, you know, in Africa, and Asia, and elephants, often living alongside natural Rhino ranges. So you've got about benefit from a big perspective. But yeah, as I said, it can go right down to those small insects. In Asia as well, you've got, you know, tigers living in the same place as tomato rhinos, and heard a great story recently from some of our partners in Indonesia. And they've done a replanting project to improve the forest. And actually one of the first animals that was caught on a camera trap, there was a Sumatran tiger, which is well, kind of strange when you think you know, how close are people living to these areas. But that's because I don't live in a place with big predators. So I can imagine, but yeah, there, you know, hopefully, the rhinos will soon come into that same place.

Alex Re

Yeah, then that's so important. And they're obviously really important or like keystone species to their environment. So every species of Rhino is, is either endangered or close to being endangered right now. So what are some of the challenges that they're facing right now I know, we talked a little bit about their, their horns.

Emma Pereira

Yeah. So as I said, the five species of Rhino and three of those five are actually listed as critically endangered. And what that means is that they are extremely high extinction, risk of extinction sorry, in the wild, which is a really frightening prospect to be completely honest, for anyone, let alone someone who obviously, you know, I work in that sector. But the reason behind that is because historically, there's been a lot of poaching of rhinos, and many other animals, and, and those species that are critically endangered now, you know, they really, really need to be boosting their populations, we need to be doing more as much as we can to be honest. And that's because of poaching for their horn, as we said before, it's a sort of prized possession in certain places, and illegally trafficking that horn, from source countries, whether that's in Africa, or in Indonesia, or India, and Nepal, in through to the countries where the demand is highest at the moment, which is China and Vietnam. Now, poaching is the most urgent and sort of shocking threat that they face. But the longer term issues are habitat loss, and, of course, climate change. So in Indonesia, and we're looking at not very many animals left of smartrend, and Java rhinos, and what they really need is more space to grow their populations into. But you know, we've got a lot of deforestation in those places, often due to overconsumption of countries way far away from those ones. And in Africa, the same thing is happening, because you know, the protected areas are kind of getting smaller and smaller as new human population grows, and consumption continues. So we are looking at Yeah, the immediate threat of poaching and the longer term effects of habitat loss. So both of those things, they really need our attention at the moment. And that's, that's what we're trying to do is save the rhino.

Alex Re

Yeah, that's really sad. And, like, what I've learned from doing this podcast for a while, is that habitat loss and climate change are two major issues facing so many different animals. And I think also, with the poaching, I feel like a lot of people don't really think that that happens anymore. Like, I think when you think about, like poaching for rhino horns or ivory from elephants, you think like the late 1900s, or the early 1900s, or something, but it's still happening right now. And it's an issue.

Emma Pereira

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, thankfully, it's going down for rhinos, and I think for Elephants as well, but, but it's still too high. I mean, there's a rhino lost across Africa, on average, every 12 hours. In the last decade, we've seen 10,000 rhinos poached and and, you know, I don't want to say this word sustainable, because doesn't seem right. We talk about animals, but it's really not sustainable for that. And so it, it's just not, it's not something that's going to help any population. If you had sort of, you know, 510 animals poached a year, then obviously, it's still a problem that you should eliminate, but actually, it's generally from a population view isn't going to affect that that population or that species to a huge amount, unless they're obviously very low at the time. But you We're not looking at those numbers were actually last year, I think 2019 even we were looking at about 750 animals of those across Africa. So it's still way, way too high. And until we get that under control, the problem is that we can't properly face or protect rhinos against the other threats they face, because obviously, so much resource needs to go into that urgent 24 hour range of protection. And that's tough. It's not it's not a good place to be.

Alex Re

Yeah, absolutely. So is there anything that the average person can do to help rhinos?

Emma Pereira

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the first thing is just what you said about you know, people often don't think that poaching exists anymore, at least not to the extent that it does. And, and as you know, and as your listeners know, it's not just rhinos that are facing that problem, but it's a huge number of animals. And similarly, plants as well, we can't ignore the fact that plants are kind of being illegally traded. But the first thing I would say, because of that, we need to raise all of our own awareness, we need to know what's going on in the world, whether it's, you know, right in our back garden or in other place. Because before we know anything, we can't do a lot about it, we need to know to care. And that's how I always think about things. And secondly, everyone can take individual actions. So it might just be talking to family and friends about something that you've learned recently, and your new knowledge on a topic like Rhino poaching and conservation, it might be that you can take it a step further and say, you know, I'm really passionate, I'm going to help to end this and I'm going to raise some funding, I'm going to do you know, an under marathon in rodeo costume or a bake sale, or I'm going to do a fantastic drawing and sell it online. There are many, many things you can do to fundraise. But similarly, we have a whole community in our membership scheme. And they're all people passionate about Rhino conservation, and they want to be, you know, joining up with others that are just the same as them. And that's a lovely community to be part of. So I think sometimes it can just be talking, sometimes it can be, you know, if you have a spare a spare bit of change, that you're not going to get coffee today or something, then then that's just as wonderful.

Alex Re

That's awesome. And so you've mentioned so many things that people can do. And it's, it's not not too hard to do some of those things. So yeah, I think it's great. And, obviously, everybody loves rhinos, so we all should want to help them. That's my dream anyway. So before you go, where can we find information about save the rhino?

Emma Pereira

So our website is the first place to look, I'm not to say that because I'm biased and look after it. We don't we don't we don't save the rhino.org. And of course, we're across all the main social media channels as well. So we often post things on there, we have a weekly quiz on Fridays on Instagram. So if no one's interested in that, I know some people are sick of quizzes through. And but yeah, we have that. And yeah, we're just we're just kind of there to share what's going on whether it's a news update sometimes. And I often find recently especially people just want something to brighten up their newsfeed and Rhino calf can 100% do that for you. So yeah, if anyone's looking at something, just to make them smile, then hopefully we can provide a bit of that, as well as some more information.

Alex Re

That's so great. Well, Emma, I really appreciate you coming on to the podcast. Everyone should absolutely go check out save the rhino. Take the quizzes, follow them on Instagram. And thanks for coming on again. Yeah, no worries. Thank you so much. And thanks, everyone for listening. Wow, that interview was so informative. And if that didn't make you fall in love with rhinos, I don't know what will. Unfortunately, as mo was saying rhinos are facing a whole lot of issues, and multiple species are critically endangered. Thankfully, organizations like save the rhino are doing amazing work to help them. That's why you should absolutely go on their website and check them out. Along with save the rhino. There are other organizations that are also helping rhinos. For example, there's the international Rhino foundation and helping rhinos. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explore the world of the rhino. You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at on wildlife.org. Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday to learn about a new animal. And that's on wildlife.

Jess Avellino

You've been listening to on wildlife with Alex re brought to you every Wednesday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai