#RHINOCEROS 4 VERSUS RHINOCEROS 5 SKIN#
The seasonal appearance of the lesions led to the belief that they were associated with secondary sex skin glands, which became active during the breeding season. The causal agent of the frequent occurrence of ulcerative wounds behind the shoulder of black rhinoceros in Kenya and South Africa has been the subject of speculation for many years. The dreadful plight of this charismatic species is due to habitat and food supply loss and disruption, and mainly because of man’s pursuit of the animal’s unique horn, which poses the single most dangerous threat. Only the black ( Diceros bicornis) and white rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) still roam in Africa. From the 30 known rhinoceros species once inhabiting our planet, only five threatened species persist today. The world rhinoceroses’ population has been reduced by more than 90% only in the past 30 years. Our study highlights (i) that filarial infection is not restricted to black rhinos, but it affects both rhinoceros species, and (ii) the importance of the earlier detection and immediate treatment (capture-treat and release) of filarioid infections, which is of pivotal interest for wildlife conservation, and especially the endangered and isolated white and black rhinoceros populations. Comparison between the epidemiological aspects of white and black rhinoceros filariosis, and the possible relations between this outbreak and annual seasons, the presence of oxpeckers and other host species are discussed. Affected rhinos were captured and successfully treated. Four black and five white rhinos were affected by various degrees of filarioid-like lesions, while apparently all sympatric wild and domestic animals were filarial worm-free.
In this paper we report a putative filariosis outbreak in both black and white rhinos at Meru National Park in Kenya. Stephanofilaria dinniki has been implicated in the past as the causal agents for such lesions.
Filarial worms have been thought to cause cutaneous lesions in black rhinoceros ( Diceros bicornis) in Kenya and South Africa, but never in white rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) in the wild, despite the fact that the two species live often in close proximity. Habitat and food supply loss and disruption, together with man’s pursuit of the animal’s unique horn pose significant threats to the charismatic rhinoceros.