Nature Watch

With poachers on the prowl, West Africa’s white and black rhinos may be extinct soon.


The World Conservation Union has said that the West African black rhinoceros may be extinct and the continent’s northern white rhino may soon follow.


Richard Emslie of the World Conservation Union’s Species Survival Commission said that experts had searched 1,200 miles of habitat in northern Cameroon, but failed to find any sign of the West African black rhino.


Emslie, a rhino expert based in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, said: “They looked for spoor (tracks or droppings), and also looked for the rhino’s characteristic way of feeding, which has an effect like a pruning shear.”


Although not discovering any sign of black rhinos, the experts did come across evidence of poaching.


Poachers have long hunted the animals for their horns, which are used in traditional Asian medicine to fight malaria, epilepsy and other ailments. In Yemen, the horns are in demand for use as carved handles on traditional daggers.


Conservationists estimated that there were more than 100,000 West African black rhinos in 1960. That figure dropped to an estimated 14,000 by 1980 and the animals may soon be extinct.

Olives are among the oldest fruit trees in existence. They also live for a long time. The olive tree has been mentioned in the Quran in Surah At-Teen.

By the Fig and the Olive,
And the Mount of Sinai,
And this City of security,
We have indeed created man in the best of moulds,
Then do We abase him (to be) the lowest of the low,
Except such as believe and do righteous deeds: for they shall have a reward unfailing.
What then, can after this, make you deny the Last Judgement?
Is not Allah the wisest of Judges?


The olive tree originated in the countries along the Mediterranean Sea. The tree prefers a climate with a wet and cool winter, and a dry and warm summer. Winter temperatures below freezing can damage the trees. Olive trees are mainly grown for oil, but olives are also eaten.


Olives go through a number of growth stages. They start out as a green fruit, which turns yellowish, then reddish and finally black as they ripen. An olive contains 10-40% oil by weight. They also contain oleo-rubin, a very bitter substance, which is removed during processing so that olives are tasty, not bitter. Olive tree leaves are dark green to burgundy in colour.


As the olive tree ages, it produces more fruit. Generally, olives produce a good harvest every other year, with a smaller harvest in between. Most olive production comes from the Mediterranean countries of Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Algeria. Of course, olive trees have been grown in Palestine for many centuries.


In general, it takes over five years for a new tree to bear fruit. Olive trees are planted from branches of existing trees. Olive oil is among the best vegetable oils available and many societies use olive oil as a staple of their diets.