Species → Black rhinoceros
Black rhinoceros
Diceros bicornis
What if it disappeared?
Impact ModerateWithout passing through the black rhinoceros's digestive system, camel-thorn (Vachellia erioloba) seeds germinate less successfully and produce less resilient seedlings than those that did pass through it, compared with seeds that fell directly to the ground beneath the tree.
DocumentedDetail
Jones et al. (2025). Endozoochory by Black Rhinoceroses Enhances Germination of a Key Arid Savanna Tree Species. Ecology and Evolution.
This study provides the first direct experimental evidence of a mutualistic relationship between the black rhinoceros and this key arid-savanna tree species: gut passage improves the structure of the seedling cohort, producing more germinations and a greater number of older, more resilient individuals.
Where elephants are absent, the black rhinoceros is the largest herbivore able to persist in many fenced reserves of southern Africa — so its disappearance could weigh more heavily on vegetation structure in those particular reserves.
ExtrapolatedDetail
Extrapolation à partir de Jones et al. (2025) et de la littérature sur le rôle des mégaherbivores en l'absence d'éléphants dans les réserves clôturées.
Fenced reserves in southern Africa that lack elephants rely more heavily on the black rhinoceros as their sole large seed disperser and disturber of woody vegetation — a partial substitute role that has never been directly quantified.
What's missing to confirm it: The true extent of this substitute role for the elephant, in reserves that lack one, has not been directly measured.
Documentation
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IUCN Red List — Diceros bicornis, statut et population
Accessed August 7, 2026
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Jones et al. (2025) — Endozoochory by Black Rhinoceroses Enhances Germination, Ecology and Evolution
Accessed August 7, 2026
Last verified: August 7, 2026