Sudanese rhino horns

Sudanese rhino horns

On March 19, 2018, Sudan, the world's last male northern white rhinoceros, passed away. Sudan's story was quite remarkable: in the 1970s, during an operation to relocate endangered African animals, a 3-year-old Sudan was captured in the Republic of Sudan and sent to the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic, where he lived for over thirty years. In 2009, northern white rhinos became extinct in the wild. In 2010, to improve the chances of natural reproduction for northern white rhinos, Sudan, then 38 years old, was sent back to Africa with three other northern white rhinos. They lived in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, allowing Sudan to return to his homeland in his twilight years. However, they had all lost the ability to reproduce, meaning humanity was about to witness the extinction of this species firsthand.
This book recounts Sudan's life using his true experiences and a fairytale-like narrative, featuring three instances of his horn being broken: The first time, in his childhood, Sudan witnessed his mother being de-horned and slaughtered by poachers; the second time, at the Czech zoo, Sudan accidentally broke his horn on a wooden fence. The horn grew back, but because he didn't need to dig for roots or fight, the horn slowly aged into a circle; the third time, upon Sudan's return to Africa, the conservancy staff pre-emptively sawed off Sudan's horn to prevent poachers from killing him. The rhino horn carries strong symbolic meaning: every rhino is a king in its territory, and its horn is its crown. Sudan's greatest sorrow was that his horn, symbolizing his identity and pride, could not coexist integrally with his body.

2019-06-01

21世纪出版集团

56

9787556839841