The 57-year-old rhino is believed to have died of natural causes, according to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority. In the wild, rhinos generally live to the age of between 37 and 43.
A black rhino believed to be the oldest in the world has died in Tanzania at the age of 57, according to authorities in Ngorongoro where the animal was living.
The female rhino, named Fausta, died of what is believed to be natural causes on 27 December in a sanctuary, after living most of her life in the wild, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority said in a statement on Saturday.
“Records show that Fausta lived longer than any rhino in the world and survived in the Ngorongoro, free-ranging, for more than 54 years” before she was moved to a sanctuary in 2016, said the statement. Fausta, an eastern black rhino, was first sighted in the Ngorongoro crater in 1965 when she was three.
“Fausta was first located in the Ngorongoro crater in 1965 by a scientist from the University of Dar Es Salaam, at the age of between three and four years. Her health began to deteriorate in 2016, when we were forced to put the animal in captivity, after several attacks from hyenas and severe wounds,” it added.
Sana, a female southern white rhino, aged 55, was considered the world’s oldest white rhino when she died in captivity at the Planète Sauvage zoological park in France, in 2017.
The 57-year-old Rhino “FAUSTA” also lost her eyesight before moved, making it more difficult for her to survive in the wild. she never bore calves.
Black rhinos are critically endangered — close to extinction due to illegal poaching and habitat loss. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), only about 5,500 black rhinos are alive in the wild today, an improvement after their numbers dropped 98% to just 2,500 between 1960 and 1995.
