What it is
The black rhinoceros is a browsing African rhino with a prehensile upper lip. IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered. The western subspecies is extinct (see that entry). Remaining animals are in eastern and southern Africa, many in fenced conservancies.
Range
Once much of sub-Saharan Africa. Now scattered strongholds, especially Namibia, Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
What happened
Horn demand collapsed numbers from on the order of 100,000 around 1960 to about 2,400 in the mid-1990s. Intensive protection then produced a rebound: the International Rhino Foundation’s 2025 compilation, citing IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group figures, put the total near 6,788 at the end of 2024. That is an estimate, and it is still a fragment of the mid-century population.
When / status
Critically Endangered now. The western subspecies is already gone.
Human role
The horn trade is the main driver; habitat loss adds pressure.
Sources
IUCN Red List (Diceros bicornis, CR); IRF State of the Rhino 2025 (end-2024 estimate).