SAN DIEGO (June 9, 2022) – The largest study ever conducted on a free-ranging population of rhinoceroses reveals that about one in every seven rhinos in a key South African national park has been infected with Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), the pathogen that causes bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The finding shines new light on the potential for diseases to disrupt global conservation efforts, and potentially increase risk to human health, if left unaddressed. 

In a study that has unprecedented implications to advance both medicine and biodiversity conservation, researchers have sequenced 131 new placental mammal genomes, bringing the worldwide total to more than 250.

Today, two southern white rhino calves played, chased impalas, and met giraffes and African crowned cranes as they explored the expansive African Plains habitat at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park—and at the same time, two greater one-horned rhino calves jogged and gave themselves mud baths in their Asian Savanna habitat.