@earthstory / earthstory.tumblr.com
SOUND ON🔊 Louie Brings Plenty sends a powerful prayer out over the badlands towards the Stronghold on the #PineRidgeIndianReservation , South Dakota. Stronghold Table was the site of the last Ghost Dances before the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, and a protected sanctuary for the Lakota in the battles that followed.
rhinorescueproject
** SOUND ON **
As we listened to this gentle giant producing little squeaks of delight at getting ear scratches and snacks, a phrase suddenly sprung to mind... in many ways rhinos really are “land whales”.
Not only do the sounds they make to communicate with each other resemble those we’d associate with whales or dolphins, but much like their ocean-dwelling counterparts, rhinos are social mammals. They nurture, bond, play and cooperate with one another. Rhinos also feed their babies with their own milk and they take extraordinarily good care of their young, teaching them crucial life skills until the age of 3 or 4 before the young calves start exercising more independence.
So every time I run my hands over the skin of these living dinosaurs, I can’t help feeling a sense of wonder. Rhinos enrich the lives of so many people who come into contact with them. And it fills me with dread that, with the species facing extinction in 10 years or less, the risk is very real that these little squeaks might be silenced for good 😔😢
(The low growling in the background is an irate warthog...! 😦😂 And Reilly Travers of Imire Rhino & Wildlife talking about a female rhino that had recently given birth on the conservancy.)
