Referring to the width of its mouth, the white rhinoceros gets its name from the Afrikaans word “weit,” which is derived from West Germanic languages. Also known as the square-lipped rhinoceros, white rhinos have a square upper lip with nearly no hair.
The northern white rhino and the southern white rhino are two distinct subspecies that live in different parts of Africa.
Four countries—South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya—are home to 99.8 percent of the world’s southern white rhino population. Thought to be extinct in the late 19th century, a small colony of less than 100 southern white rhinos was discovered in 1895 in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.
More than a century of conservation efforts has resulted in their current status of Near Threatened, and approximately 18,000 white rhino now live in protected areas and private game reserves. None of the other five types of rhinos are at risk of extinction.
The social systems of white rhinoceroses are intricate. Rhinos, especially mothers with their young, may travel in herds of up to 14 animals. Adult males defend areas of around one square mile, which they indicate by furiously scraped dung mounds with their massive horns.
Depending on the quality of the environment and the population density, an adult female’s home range can be more than seven times that of a juvenile male’s.
Dominant males mark off their area and patrol it frequently to ensure that breeding females stay put. Males who are vying for the same female may get into a physical fight, with both horns and sheer size being used as weapons.
As a method of population control, trophy hunting for white rhino reduces the surplus males that would otherwise compete with breeding rhinos for food and territory.
Especially on smaller reserves and ranches, the overall productivity of a population will decrease if the rhino population is allowed to grow without removals.
If surplus males and other surplus rhino aren’t removed, populations will stagnate, leading to a shortage of rhinos and fewer incentives to protect current populations or create new groups.
Because of the increased profitability of many ranching/game park businesses made possible by trophy hunting, these areas are able to maintain healthy populations of white rhinos. Farmers may revert to livestock farming, which does not require rhino, or focus solely on tourism, which requires fewer rhino, if this hunting is not allowed to continue.
Hunting has boosted the value of rhinos, which has encouraged law enforcement to crack down on the illegal trade in rhino horn and has swayed judges to impose severe punishments on those who have been found guilty of poaching or acting as middlemen for the trade. This has led to an increase in white rhino population safety.
White rhinos are trophy hunted as part of the coveted Big 5 game hunt. If you have accomplished this hunt, it implies you have hunted and killed the five most lethal African game species.
Only until a stable population of white rhinos has been established on a given piece of land is hunting permitted there, and the majority of the global white rhino population resides in South Africa.
Following new trails on foot is a common tactic when hunting white rhino. They may have poor eyesight but have strong hearing and smell. To make up for their near-sightedness, white rhino will typically charge at anything which may be perceived as a threat.
When hunting these animals, you must use a firearm with a large calibre and a solid, ideally monolithic bullet.
Your target rhino has a known horn length from previous dartings, so you can go in with an idea of what you’re looking for. Only a very elderly bull, one that is long past breeding age and poses a threat to younger bulls, should be killed.
Horn length is not necessarily indicative of age because horns can become worn over time. That said, the females typically have longer, thinner horns than the males.
White rhinos’ hearts are located slightly further back and lower than those of most mammals, similar to those of big cats. As such, the heart is on the bottom third, as per the usual half and half rule.
White rhino hunting requires a rifle with a calibre of at least .375 Magnum, and ideally one capable of penetrating thick hides, and bullets of similar quality. The 416 Rigby, 458 Win Mag, 458 Lott, 460 Weatherby, 500 A-Square, 505 Gibbs, and related cartridges come highly recommended as well. Ammunition such as Federal Premium or Hornady’s 500 grain bullets is particularly reliable.
However, you should always check the area beyond your target, as these bullets have a tendency to exit. You should take the safety recommendations of your Professional Hunter seriously.
The White Rhino hunts with Hunt24 typically last between seven and ten days and are part of larger African safaris. During your White Rhino Hunt, you and your guide, a professional hunter with years of experience, will use spot-and-stalk tactics to get within 40 yards of the animals. Rifle hunting is fully accommodated.
We only hunt trophy-quality White Rhinoceros on our South African hunting concessions. There are no restrictions on exporting the White Rhinoceros trophy to the United States or anywhere else in the world at this time.
