World Rhino Day
Next: September 22, 2027
Five species. All of them need a friend.
The story
Where it comes from
World Rhino Day was announced by WWF South Africa in 2010, as poaching for rhino horn surged. In 2011 two conservationists, Lisa Jane Campbell and Rhishja Cota, took it international, and it now celebrates all five species: the white and black rhinos of Africa and the greater one-horned, Javan and Sumatran rhinos of Asia.
How it's celebrated
Zoos, national parks and NGOs hold talks, fundraisers and 'rhino runs'; rangers are honoured; social media campaigns push back against the demand for horn. In Malaysia the day carries a note of loss: the country's last Sumatran rhino died in 2019.
Did you know
- Rhino horn is made of keratin, the same protein as human fingernails.
- Fewer than 80 Javan rhinos survive, all in one national park in Indonesia; the Sumatran rhino numbers fewer than 50.
- A group of rhinos is called a crash.
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