[PHOTOS] World Rhino Day: A global call to save an iconic species

World Rhino Day is celebrated every September 22. The day highlights the global effort to protect rhinos.

The day celebrates all five species of rhino: Black, white, greater one-horned, Sumatran, and Javan rhinos.

The event raises awareness about rhino conservation and the threats they face.

World Rhino Day was first announced by the World Wide Fund (WWF)-South Africa in 2010. By 2011, the event gained international recognition.

This year in Kenya, the day is being commemorated in Samburu.

World Rhino Day unites governments, conservationists, and the public in a shared mission to ensure the survival of these iconic species.

Although the number of African rhinos has increased since 2004, the work is far from complete.

Once common across the continent, African rhinos were driven to the brink of extinction by decades of poaching. While overall poaching rates have declined since their peak in 2015, the threat remains significant.

Beyond poaching, rhinos face multiple challenges, including habitat loss, fragmentation, limited secure habitats, inadequate incentives for conservation, and the high cost of protection.

As ecological engineers, rhinos play a vital role in shaping ecosystems, particularly in grasslands where they maintain healthy habitats benefiting other species.  They also disperse plant seeds through their dung and foraging activities.

Despite ongoing threats, conservation efforts have been fruitful, with three of the five remaining rhino species, including black and white rhinos, showing population growth.

Concerted conservation efforts in Kenya and across key rhino range states, focused on protection and biological management, have also been fruitful.