Western Black Rhino Declared Extinct

The illegal rhino horn trade has obliterated one subspecies of one of Africa's most beloved animals.

Way to go, humans! We've successfully wiped the Western black rhino off of the face of the planet, according to a new report that finds that none of the iconic horned mammals live in Western Africa anymore. In addition, the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List says the white rhino of central Africa could possibly be extinct and the northern white rhino is on the verge of extinction. Suffice to say, it hasn't exactly been a great few years for the mighty rhinoceros, owing almost entirely to poachers and an illegal rhino horn trade. But at least humans have brought the number of Southern white rhinos up from 100 in the 19th century to more than 20,000 today. Plus, we saved Przewalski's horse, a strain of wild horses that was extinct in the wild in 1996. Thanks to a captive breeding program, the population of the horses in the wild now stands at about 300. Humanity giveth, and we taketh away, although the "taketh away" side of the equation seems to be winning out: all told, 25 per cent of all mammal species are at risk of extinction.