Zoliswa Nhleko: On a mission to stop the extinction of rhinos

Important research to help prevent rhino poaching is currently being conducted in the Kruger National Park by SANParks Scientific Services – and if the results pan out it could save tens of millions of rands and many rhinos.

Zoliswa Nhleko’s research is investigating whether it is possible to modify rhinos’ behaviour by moving them away from high-incident poaching areas to safer areas.

Maintaining the intensive protection zone for the rhino in Kruger Park currently costs about R10 million a year, according to a question in parliament, with perimeter detection systems, standalone sensor arrays, area surveillance systems, canine deployment, reaction force interventions and air wing operations being used to protect the ungulates.

“Elephants remember poaching scenes and often avoid them.

“The question is, do rhinos know they’re being poached,” Nhleko said.

Her study is investigating the effects of poaching on white rhino demography, physiology and spatial distribution.

“The more we know, the more we need to know and that’s how science and knowledge is advanced.

“The big plan is to save them.

“If we, as scientists, do our part together with anti-poaching interventions we may see less rhinos dying.

“Or, if we can manage for maximum reproduction even if we see the same number of deaths, the increased birth rates may help rhinos withstand the poaching so it all balances out and that’s when we will see that all the research done on rhinos was not in vain.”

It was a chance conversation about extinction – specifically about the dodo, a large flightless bird believed to have been hunted to extinction around 1662 – on a visit to a museum during her primary school years that sparked Nhleko’s lifelong passion f or science.

“I was part of an environmental club run by the museum,” she said. “We used to go after school, I think I was in grade three at Nichols Primary School in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg.

“Mabongi Mtshali was the environmental education officer and she would teach us about wildlife and the environment.

“We would do beach clean-ups and projects that repurposed recycled materials.

“The first time I heard the word ‘extinction’ was at the museum.”

When Mtshali explained what extinction meant, it struck the young Nhleko as something odd, which shouldn’t be happening.

At varsity, she majored in geology and minored in zoology, but her interest in zoology increased and after completing her undergraduate degree, she went to work for the Durban Natural Science Museum as an environmental education officer.

Then Nhleko realised that research was where her heart lay.

After completing her Masters degree in zoology with research conducted at a park in KZN, managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Nhleko was accepted into the SANParks’ junior scientist programme, where she started working for her doctorate.

According to SANParks, the programme, sponsored by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, aims to “train, empower and mentor young scientists from previously disadvantaged groups”.

“The candidates are postgraduate students from natural science, conservation and ecology backgrounds,” SANParks states on its website.

“These junior scientists are mentored by experienced Kruger National Park staff, who provide the necessary support and assistance.

“Apart from participating in different scientific activities in the Kruger National Park, the junior scientists are also registered for postgraduate degrees with different institutions of higher learning.”

Nhleko is expecting to get a PhD from the University of Florida in the US next year. However, being a woman working in a scienctific field wasn’t always easy, she said.

“No-one asks a successful male how he balances home, children and work. No-one even knows if he has a child, yet it’s the first question asked of a woman,” Nhleko said.

“So it becomes one of those things where women have to compromise between having children or a successful career, where having children may derail your career, a situation not common for men.

“This is not limited to careers in science, but without the right support women may end up being sidelined.

“This is a job fuelled by passion for knowledge, not money.

“You do this job because you want to make a difference and the salary for the most part doesn’t come into it,” Nhleko said.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

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