ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



less rush takes them through a wire fence as if it were made of twine 

 and pasteboard/' 18 ''They break through our best wire fences, ruin our 

 crops, despoil us of the fruits of long and toilsome efforts, and much 

 expenditures. We simply cannot live in a country inhabited by herds 

 of wild zebras." 19 Since the foregoing quotations were written, persist- 

 ent hunting has greatly reduced the herds of zebras in many places. 

 The related quagga, which once roamed the plains of South Africa in 

 great herds, also captured and used as a draft animal a century ago, 

 was hunted to its death, having become extinct about i875. 20 



FAMILY RHINOCEROTIDAE RHINOCEROSES 



The rhinoceroses are rapidly dwindling away. Of the Somali rhino 

 (Diceros bicornis} it was said twenty years ago: "Unfortunately this 

 strange beast is being driven before civilization, and a few years more 

 will see its disappearance from all save the most remote regions." 1 

 The range of the square-lipped rhino (Ceratotherium simum) is lim- 

 ited and its habitat localized by environmental requirements, so that 

 it "does not seem to be able to hold its own and is in need of organized 

 protection;" 2 which has been provided by a 90,000 acre reserve, but it 

 does not seem certain that this will save the species. 3 



Roosevelt listed the rhinoceros as one of the five most dangerous 

 animals of Africa. 4 The district commissioner, "while at Neri, had 

 been obliged to undertake a crusade against the rhinos, because, quite 

 unprovoked, they had killed several natives." The rhinoceroses are not 

 of much economic importance. "The Somalis value the hide for their 

 shields, and whip handles are made of it." 5 "The rhino's horn is one 

 of the insignia of royalty among the Kaffirs, and many wars have been 

 waged for the possession of big specimens. The value of the horn is 

 still the principal reason for the great destruction of the rhinoceros. 

 They are sold chiefly to China to be used for some medicinal purpose. 

 In other days, a cup of rhinoceros horn was highly valued, as it was 

 supposed to turn poisoned liquids a milky color and so detect them." 6 



18 Roosevelt, African game trails, pp. 13, 48, 50, 130, 227-228, 1910. 



19 Hornaday, Our vanishing wild life, p. 183, 1913, quoting the settlers' grievances. 

 ^Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 214, 1927; Hornaday, Our vanishing wild 



life, p. 35, 1910. 



1 Drake-Brockman, The mammals of Somaliland, p. 106, 1910. 



2 Lang, Recent and historical notes on the square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium 

 simum), Journ. Mammalogy, iv, 155-163, 1923. 



8 Hornaday, Threatened quick extinction of the white rhinoceroses, Bull. New 

 York Zool. Soc., xxvii, 13, 1924. Lang, Threatened extinction of the white rhinoceros 

 (Ceratotherium simum), Journ. Mammalogy, v, 173-179, 1924. 



4 Roosevelt, African game trails, pp. 243, 289, 1910. 



6 Drake-Brockman, The mammals of Somaliland, p. 106, 1910. 



6 Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 207, 1927. 



