Conservationists marked World Rhino Day on Tuesday under the theme "Keep the Five Alive", drawing attention to the precarious survival of the world's five remaining rhino species across Africa and Asia, with fewer than 27,000 individuals left in the wild. Africa's black rhino is listed as critically endangered with under 7,000 remaining, though a recent WWF South Africa initiative successfully relocated 20 black rhinos to Botswana — doubling the country's population — as part of a broader programme that has established 18 new populations since 2003. The outlook is even grimmer for Asia's Javan and Sumatran rhinos (both found in Indonesia), which face the gravest extinction risk, while only two northern white rhinos remain alive — both female and under 24-hour guard at Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy — underscoring why experts warn that without sustained conservation efforts, several of these ecologically vital animals, which shape habitats through their grazing and seed dispersal, could vanish entirely.