Social and reproductive behaviour of critically endangered northern white rhinoceros in a zoological garden

Abstract

Northern and southern white rhinos have poor reproduction in captivity and social interactions between them, especially increased agonistic behaviour, are believed to be one of the possible reasons. Northern white rhino is currently on the brink of extinction with less than ten animals surviving. We studied the social behaviour of northern white rhinos in zoological garden and investigated the effects of separation of the oldest, wild-born female from the herd on the social behaviour of other group members. After the separation, the numbers of agonistic and the play interactions between the animals significantly increased, no change was found in cohesive behaviour. Our results suggest that a composition of white rhino groups has a significant influence on social interactions between the animals and that better knowledge of proper composition of their groups in captivity in terms of age, sex and wild or zoo origin might improve animals’ well-being and also increase a chance for reproduction.