BIOL1040 Environmental Science
Assg. 3 - The Nature of Science and Black Rhino Conservation
Background -During my recent trip to South Africa, I was blessed to see some amazing wildlife! I felt most blessed to see some animals that are endangered species, including the Black Rhino (Dicerosbicornis).
As part of our trip, we visited the Mankwe Wildlife Preserve, a private wildlife reserve near Pilansburg National Park. The father-daughter owners of the reserve Dougal and Lynne MacTavish,had a memorial at their Bush Camp. The memorial consisted of 2 enormous skulls sitting next to a head stone. The headstone read…
When I asked about the memorial, Lynne explained that the skulls were of two female rhinos they lost to poachers in 2014. One of the skulls had the front portion (where the snout would have been) with a gaping, ragged hole. The other skull had the decomposing stub of a horn left. She went on to say that the crime report listed the loss of 2 rhinos. But, the truth was that they lost 5 rhinos as a consequence of the actions of the poachers. The one cow rhino was still alive as the poachers torn the horns from her skull. She had a 6 mos. old calf that was orphaned, and died shortly thereafter. The other skull belonged to a cow that was shot through the lung… she was able to run away before dying. Consequently, the poachers were unable to find her body and rip the horns from her corpse. Sadly, when the reserve owners located her body, they found the bloated carcass had ruptured to reveal a beautiful, dead, nearly full-term calf. The fifth rhino they lost was named “Patrol”. He was another indirect casualty. His death was because of the effects of anesthesia. He died while they used a chainsaw to remove his horns.
You may wonder why the reserve owners would risk the life of their rhinos by dehorning. Well, it is an effort to curb the likelihood of poaching. The horns are so valuable poachers will kill rhinos for their horns while leaving the rest of the animal to rot. As an example of how valuable the horni is to poachers, Dougal explained that after they removed the horns from the cow that had been killed by poachers; they had to immediately take it to a secret safety deposit box. Apparently, neighbors had failed to do so, and were murdered by the poachers. What can cause people to murder other human beings? And hunt a species to extinction? Greed! Dougal estimated that the blackmarket price of rhino horn is around $35,000 a pound… and a rhino horn is approx..6-8 pounds (~$250,000). The market for this horn is largely in Asia where they view rhino horn as having magical/medicinal powers. Sadly, the poachers who risk their own lives (they can be shot by rangers) are often poor people. It is the upper levels of the poaching ring that become wealthy. Dougal said estimates are that rhinos will be extinct in 10 years. If this occurs, what a tragedy!
This assignment is designed to allow you to think about how science functions, the scientific process, types of studies etc. My personal story and photos along with the research article by Berger (1994) will provide context for you as you consider not only the scientific process, but also the social and spiritual implications of species extinctions.
Tasks –As you recall from your reading in Chpt. 2 (Miller and Spoolman, 2014 3rd ed.), doing science involves a process that is somewhat linear, but can also include reiterations or loops back to earlier processes/steps. You hopefully also recall that science requires data collection to help support or refute hypotheses. After data analyses, scientists often use graphs or figures to illustrate the relationship of variables to each other. Finally, conclusions can be drawn, and/or the process is repeated. Read the paper “Science, Conservation, and Black Rhinos” by Berger (1994). I realize that most/all of you are not science majors, and the vocabulary in the paper may seem foreign to you. Do not get bogged down on the jargon. Read for a “big picture” understanding. Take time to look at the figures and interpret them.
After reading the paper, complete the following--
List one question the author was trying to answer in this study:
List onehypothesis the author was testing:
List an example of the type of data he collected/analyzed:
Referring to Fig. 1, and the text in the column below the figure in the paper (“…teractions with dangerous…”), did there seem to be a difference in sex ratios between rhino populations in protected vs. unprotected areas AND was the difference statistically significant?
Referring to the paragraph “Using existing literature…” on pg. 302, what was the probability that the observed differences could be due to chance? In other words, what was the P value for this particular test?
Did that statistical probability refute or support the hypothesis?
Referring to Fig. 2, determine the independent variable AND the dependent variable:
In the last paragraph (pg. 306), Berger states, “Before wild rhinos can be truly rescued, the more mammoth task lies in resolving social, economic, and political issues”. Are these problems within the realm or domain of science to solve? Why or why not? Hint: you can refer to the section “Science Has Some Limitations” in Miller and Spoolman (2014) pg. 29.