Western Black Rhino, poached for horns, now extinct in wild

About 10 of the long-legged West African variety of Black Rhino survived in Cameroon until 2000.

Its loss is significant because the Western Black Rhino is genetically distinct from other rhino subspecies. Reintroducing animals born into captivity is costly and may be impossible, experts say.

     Efforts to preserve other subspecies of Black Rhinos in Eastern and Southern Africa have been more successful, but there too poachers are taking their toll.

     About 100,000 Eastern Black Rhino roamed the continent at the beginning of the 20th century, before their numbers plummeted to just 1,500 in the 1960s. Today, about 4,500 exist thanks to intensive breeding and conservation efforts.

     Craig Hilton-Taylor, who manages the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered species, said other rhino populations such as the Northern White Rhino are also at risk.

     "It is down as far as we know just to four semi-captive animals that have been moved from a zoo in the Czech Republic to a semi-wild situation on a ranch in Kenya," he told The Associated Press.