Rhino numbers tick higher, but poachers lurk amid high demand for horns

A total of 586 rhinos were killed in Africa in 2023, most of them in South Africa, which has the highest population of rhinos at an estimated 16,056 [File: Brian Inganga/AP]

Rhinoceros numbers across the world increased slightly in 2023, but so too did the number of animals killed by poachers, according to a new report.

Thanks to preservation efforts, the white rhino population increased by 1,522 to 17,464 in 2023, an annual report by the International Rhino Foundation said as it marked World Rhino Day on Sunday. However, the number of black and greater one-horned rhinos stayed the same, it added.