The southern white rhino has already been returned from the edge of extinction. Once widespread in southern Africa, by the beginning of the 20th century they were reduced to a single population of less than 50 animals in what is now KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. By 1997, after years of careful protection and numerous translocations, numbers had increased to over 17,500 individuals spread across almost 250 discrete wild populations. The southern white rhino is now widely distributed across South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, with additional, smaller populations in countries outside its historic range. The recovery is one of the greatest conservation success stories of the 20th century.
Significantly, the breeding success and rate of population growth of southern white rhinos in the wild has far exceeded that of their counterparts in captivity. Whilst captive breeding programmes have failed to increase numbers significantly, and even now depend on supplements by animals translocated from the wild to maintain numbers, appropriately stocked populations in good habitat in the wild can increase at a net 8-9% per annum, and sometimes at even higher rates. The current growth rate of southern white rhinos at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy is close to this target.
