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geardaddy

(24,926 posts)
Tue May 12, 2015, 04:29 PM May 2015

A picture of loneliness: you are looking at the last male northern white rhino



What is it like to look at the very last of something? To contemplate the passing of a unique wonder that will soon vanish from the face of the earth? You are seeing it. Sudan is the last male northern white rhino on the planet. If he does not mate successfully soon with one of two female northern white rhinos at Ol Pejeta conservancy, there will be no more of their kind, male or female, born anywhere. And it seems a slim chance, as Sudan is getting old at 42 and breeding efforts have so far failed. Apart from these three animals there are only two other northern white rhinos in the world, both in zoos, both female.

It seems an image of human tenderness that Sudan is lovingly guarded by armed men who stand vigilantly and caringly with him. But of course it is an image of brutality. Even at this last desperate stage in the fate of the northern white rhino, poachers would kill Sudan if they could and hack off his horn to sell it on the Asian medicine market.

Sudan doesn’t know how precious he is. His eye is a sad black dot in his massive wrinkled face as he wanders the reserve with his guards. His head is a marvellous thing. It is a majestic rectangle of strong bone and leathery flesh, a head that expresses pure strength. How terrible that such a mighty head can in reality be so vulnerable. It is lowered melancholically beneath the sinister sky, as if weighed down by fate. This is the noble head of an old warrior, his armour battered, his appetite for struggle fading.

Under his immense looming shoulder, his legs protrude like squat columns from the tough tank of his body. The way his foreleg emerges from his thick coat of skin reminds us how long human beings have been wondering at the natural spectacle that is the rhino. For Sudan does not look so different from the rhinoceros that Albrecht Dürer portrayed in 1515. They have the same little legs stuck out of a majestic body and they even lower their heads in the same contemplative way. Dürer was a Renaissance artist picturing an exotic beast from the exotic lands that Europe was starting to see more and more of. In 1515 a live Indian rhinoceros was sent by the ruler of Gujarat to the king of Portugal: he in turn sent it to the Pope, but on the way it died in a shipwreck.

More at link: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/12/last-male-northern-white-rhino?CMP=fb_gu

41 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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A picture of loneliness: you are looking at the last male northern white rhino (Original Post) geardaddy May 2015 OP
Humans...horns, there are no words. n/t countryjake May 2015 #1
Agreed. geardaddy May 2015 #2
... BrotherIvan May 2015 #6
You are so turbinetree May 2015 #13
I'm with you BrotherIvan May 2015 #15
Yes, that aspect of the image has been seared into my brain. countryjake May 2015 #17
As noted below, we need to talk about population BrotherIvan May 2015 #19
You are right and nature can't be cheated. hifiguy May 2015 #27
If we cut down on population and consumption at the same time BrotherIvan May 2015 #31
I am with you there, BrotherIvan. hifiguy May 2015 #33
Very interesting BrotherIvan May 2015 #35
As Leela said about Fry once on Futurama hifiguy May 2015 #37
First and maybe last time I see one. yeoman6987 May 2015 #16
Your comment brings to mind Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth". countryjake May 2015 #23
poor thing Liberal_in_LA May 2015 #3
This message was self-deleted by its author onehandle May 2015 #4
"Apart from these three animals there are only two other northern white rhinos in the world" beam me up scottie May 2015 #5
What a beautiful animal. Terra Alta May 2015 #7
Me too. geardaddy May 2015 #8
I feel the same as you Worried senior May 2015 #24
So sad. brer cat May 2015 #9
Not to mention superstitious, hifiguy May 2015 #29
Beautiful creature. bigwillq May 2015 #10
oh my goodness. robinlynne May 2015 #11
Just Sudan and his guards.... IVoteDFL May 2015 #12
Dumb animal. We're going to add 216,000 humans today alone. ffr May 2015 #14
The poached products should be intercepted and poisoned. alphafemale May 2015 #18
Is gathering genetic material... gcomeau May 2015 #20
I would think they've tried artificial insemination, but I'm not sure. geardaddy May 2015 #21
People would oppose it just because it involves the word cloning LostOne4Ever May 2015 #34
beautiful article, so sad.......and so true.... ellenrr May 2015 #22
Hurts the heart. polly7 May 2015 #25
K&R! Omaha Steve May 2015 #26
Can they clone him? shenmue May 2015 #28
If extinction interests you, have a look at Aldo Leopold May 2015 #30
I couldn't read it. polly7 May 2015 #32
Thanks for the recommendation. geardaddy May 2015 #41
Adrian Belew knew this time would come MannyGoldstein May 2015 #36
All I have to give is I'm sorry angrychair May 2015 #38
man loves to destroy SummerSnow May 2015 #39
I have to say that its only the northern, not the southern, white rhino, that.... AZ Progressive May 2015 #40

turbinetree

(24,695 posts)
13. You are so
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:06 PM
May 2015

Right----and you are utterly correct -------------this is speech less.

To think that someone thinks that this animal this timeless wonder of long ago who was here before us, from the past, gives them more sexual drive, is outrageous----totally outrageous




countryjake

(8,554 posts)
17. Yes, that aspect of the image has been seared into my brain.
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:30 PM
May 2015

I'll never forget a mythical misrepresentation from "The Gods Must Be Crazy" where some guy expounds on the dangers of lighting a campfire due to the supposed wild, instinctive charging nature of White Rhinos. That scene pissed me off way back then, long before the White's numbers were so desperately low.

I hope that the rhinos of Nepal are faring well during all these quakes...not sure what their particular species is called, but I read a thing not long ago which said that even their numbers were dwindling in the foothills of the Himalayas.

As long as economic equality is non-existent around the globe, bastards will continue to grab profit wherever they possibly can. Stupid humans.

BrotherIvan

(9,126 posts)
19. As noted below, we need to talk about population
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:36 PM
May 2015

If 49% of pregnancies in the US are unplanned, think about worldwide where there isn't access to birth control. We need to put all of our efforts into 100% effective, safe, pleasant and easy-to-use birth control. We are exploding out of control and the rest of the world is suffering. We need to start being responsible and look around and say, we probably have enough people on this planet. The world can't take unlimited population.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
27. You are right and nature can't be cheated.
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:09 PM
May 2015

Whether the die off is engineered by the billionaire class or is the result of some confluence of overpopulation and natural disaster, spaceborne or earthborne, or all of the above, things cannot go on as they have.

It seems to me that a realistic carrying capacity for the earth is 1-2 billion people total.

BrotherIvan

(9,126 posts)
31. If we cut down on population and consumption at the same time
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:15 PM
May 2015

And do both in a positive way--i.e. culturally and with medical advancements such as birth control, it will save a lot of pain and suffering. We have to grow up as a species and take responsibility. And we have to stop listening to religious fanatics who want to make an army for god or some shit.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
33. I am with you there, BrotherIvan.
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:20 PM
May 2015

I tend to take the Roddenberry view of the next 100-200 years. There will be a catastrophe that knocks over about 40-60% of the population and that society will be rebuilt around cooperative and socialist structures, with an accompanying planetary rejection of the profit motive; people will learn, I think, from the catastrophe that is capitalism. I won't live to see it, but that's the hope I will carry to my end.

BrotherIvan

(9,126 posts)
35. Very interesting
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:25 PM
May 2015

I think people forget that historically, there were cultures that learned to live in a cooperative way. But I think one's worldview must be shaped from very early to be able to see it. I have no idea where we are going, but our leaders will be considered villains and rogues for turning their backs on what was plain for all to see.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
37. As Leela said about Fry once on Futurama
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:27 PM
May 2015

"He's just some poor dope from the Stupid Ages." That will be their view of us.

 

yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)
16. First and maybe last time I see one.
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:15 PM
May 2015

I still think it would have been cool to still have dinasours around. What a beauty they would be.

countryjake

(8,554 posts)
23. Your comment brings to mind Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth".
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:53 PM
May 2015

I can just picture families keeping dinosaurs and woolly mammoths as house pets, ha!

Yup, it is such a sad picture to see.

Response to geardaddy (Original post)

beam me up scottie

(57,349 posts)
5. "Apart from these three animals there are only two other northern white rhinos in the world"
Tue May 12, 2015, 04:56 PM
May 2015

I have not the words to describe how I feel.

Terra Alta

(5,158 posts)
7. What a beautiful animal.
Tue May 12, 2015, 05:19 PM
May 2015

It breaks my heart that he is likely the last of his kind, and it's all due to humans.

I hate humans sometimes.

Worried senior

(1,328 posts)
24. I feel the same as you
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:58 PM
May 2015

They claim the difference between humans and animals are our souls. In my opinion it's the animals that have the souls.

I too hate humans at times.

brer cat

(24,560 posts)
9. So sad.
Tue May 12, 2015, 05:47 PM
May 2015

Enjoy life while you can, Sudan. Humans can be so disgusting, self-centered, and short-sighted.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
29. Not to mention superstitious,
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:10 PM
May 2015

and it is ignorant superstition that seems to have played a huge role in the devastation of these wonderful animals.

ffr

(22,669 posts)
14. Dumb animal. We're going to add 216,000 humans today alone.
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:07 PM
May 2015

That's net gain of 216,000. Per. Day.

What's its problem?



 

alphafemale

(18,497 posts)
18. The poached products should be intercepted and poisoned.
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:36 PM
May 2015

Not lethal but at least to a never wanting to feel that sick again level.

Maybe something that would have a "withering" effect since these assholes seem to usually participate in slaughter for dick enhancement.

 

gcomeau

(5,764 posts)
20. Is gathering genetic material...
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:42 PM
May 2015

..for artificial insemination / cloning not an option here? A little extreme maybe, but the circumstances seem to warrant it...

LostOne4Ever

(9,288 posts)
34. People would oppose it just because it involves the word cloning
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:20 PM
May 2015

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]There was a thread a while back on bringing back species we drove to extinction.

Expect a bunch of bad Jurassic Park references if the subject comes up again...[/font]

ellenrr

(3,864 posts)
22. beautiful article, so sad.......and so true....
Tue May 12, 2015, 06:51 PM
May 2015

much as I try - with this 6th Great Extinction --
it is hard to grasp the concept-- of gone forever.

sigh...

Aldo Leopold

(685 posts)
30. If extinction interests you, have a look at
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:12 PM
May 2015

Joel Sartore's book "Rare". It is beautiful, and will rip out your heart, if you have one.

polly7

(20,582 posts)
32. I couldn't read it.
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:15 PM
May 2015

But I'm glad people write about these poor animals headed for extinction, it must be very difficult to do.

AZ Progressive

(3,411 posts)
40. I have to say that its only the northern, not the southern, white rhino, that....
Tue May 12, 2015, 07:54 PM
May 2015

is nearly extinct. The southern white rhino numbered about 17,460 as of 2007. The population of Northern White Rhinoceros' seems to have always been much smaller, about 2,000 in 1960 according to the WWF

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