CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The number of critically endangered black rhinos has increased slightly, but there is bad news for other rhino species, according to a global count released Thursday by the International Rhino Foundation.
It said that black rhino numbers went up from 6,195 to 6,788 in the latest estimates. White rhinos had declined, however, from 15,942 to 15,752 since the last count in 2021. Black and white rhinos are only found in the wild in Africa.
The number of greater one-horned rhinos, found in northern India and Nepal, rose slightly from 4,014 to 4,075.
But Javan rhinos have declined from an estimated 76 to just 50, the foundation said, and that was entirely due to poaching. There is only one known population of Javan rhinos left — at a national park on the Indonesian island of Java.
The Sumatran rhino population stands at just 34-47 animals, around the same as previous estimates.
The global population for all rhinos is approximately 26,700.
The International Rhino Foundation says it gets its figures from counts by specialist rhino groups at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the global authority on endangered species. It does not count rhinos in zoos, only those in the wild or in national parks.
The rhino foundation said there were worrying new trends from South Africa, which has more rhinos than anywhere else. There, the average number of rhinos in individual populations was below what conservationists recommend to maintain a viable population.
It also said a new rhino horn trafficking route was emerging between South Africa and Mongolia, and Qatar was becoming a growing hub for horn trafficking. Rhino poaching is still a major problem in South Africa and elsewhere to feed the illegal market for rhino horn products in parts of Asia. South Africa loses between 400 and 500 rhinos a year to poaching.
It is often looking for new ways to deter poachers and one group of scientists launched a project last week to inject radioactive material into the horns of rhinos. The scientists say it's harmless for the animals but allows horns to be detected by border authorities when they are being smuggled.
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
Rhinos are photographed at a rhino orphanage in Mokopane, South Africa, Thursday, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)
FILE - A black rhino is seen at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, on Jan. 31, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, file)
FILE - Rhinos are seen at Nairobi National Park, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku, file)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are facing intense pressure from President Donald Trump to vote down a war powers resolution Wednesday that is aimed at limiting the president's ability to carry out further military action against Venezuela.
Five GOP senators joined with Democrats to advance the resolution last week, but Trump has lashed out at the defectors as he tries to head off passage of the bill. Democrats are forcing the vote after U.S. troops captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid earlier this month.
“Here we have one of the most successful attacks ever and they find a way to be against it. It’s pretty amazing. And it’s a shame," Trump said at a speech in Michigan Tuesday. He also hurled insults at several of the Republicans who advanced the legislation, calling Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky a “stone cold loser” and Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine “disasters.”
Trump's latest comments followed earlier phone calls with the senators, which they described as terse. The fury being directed their way from the president underscored how the war powers vote has taken on new political significance as Trump expands his foreign policy ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.
The legislation, even if passed by the Senate, has virtually no chance of becoming law because it would eventually need to be signed by Trump himself. But it represented both a test of GOP loyalty to the president and a marker for how much leeway the Republican-controlled Senate is willing to give Trump to use the military abroad.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who helped advance the war powers resolution last week, has indicated he may change his position.
Hawley said that Trump's message during a phone call last week was that the legislation “really ties my hands." The senator said he had a follow-up phone call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio that was “really positive.”
Hawley said that Rubio told him Monday "point blank, we’re not going to do ground troops.” The senator said he also received assurances that the Trump administration will follow constitutional requirements if it becomes necessary to deploy troops again to the South American country.
“I’m in listening-and-receive mode at this time,” said Hawley, adding, “I don’t know how we’re going to proceed next on the floor.”
Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican who also voted to advance the resolution, declined repeatedly to discuss his position but said he was “giving it some thought.” Collins had voted against similar war powers resolutions in previous months before voting last week to advance the one currently before the Senate.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who has brought a series of war powers resolutions this year, said he wasn't surprised at Trump's reaction to Congress asserting its ability to check the president.
“They're furious at the notion that Congress wants to be Congress,” he said. “But I think people who ran for the Senate, they want to be U.S. senators and they don't want to just vote their own irrelevance.”
Under the Constitution, Congress alone has the ability to declare war. But U.S. presidents have long stretched their powers to use the might of the U.S. military around the globe.
In the post-Vietnam War era, lawmakers tried to take back some of their authority over wartime powers with the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which allows lawmakers to hold votes on measures that restrict a president from using military force in specific conflicts without congressional approval.
Trump has used a series of legal arguments for his campaign against Maduro.
As he built up a naval force in the Caribbean and destroyed vessels that were allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, the Trump administration tapped wartime powers under the global war on terror by designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
The administration has claimed the capture of Maduro himself was actually a law enforcement operation, essentially to extradite the Venezuelan president to stand trial for charges in the U.S. that were filed in 2020.
In a classified briefing Tuesday, senators reviewed the Trump administration's still undisclosed legal opinion for using the military for the operation. It was described as a lengthy document.
As he exited the classified briefing room at the Capitol, Paul said, “Legal arguments and constitutional arguments should all be public, and it’s a terrible thing that any of this is being kept secret because the arguments aren’t very good."
Lawmakers, including some Republicans, have been alarmed by Trump's recent foreign policy talk. In recent weeks, he has pledged that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela for years to come, threatened military action to take possession of Greenland and told Iranians protesting their government that “ help is on its way.”
“It's amazing. He's concerned about the protesters in Iran, but not concerned about the damage that ICE is doing to the protesters and Americans in Minnesota and other places,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, referring to the fatal shooting of a woman in Minnesota by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Republican Senate leaders were looking for ways to defuse the conflict between their members and Trump and were eager to move on quickly to other business.
In a floor speech Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., vented his displeasure at the measure as he questioned whether this war powers resolution should be prioritized under the chamber's rules.
“We have no troops on the ground in Venezuela. We're not currently conducting military operations there,” he said. “But Democrats are taking up this bill because their anti-Trump hysteria knows no bounds.”
Republican leaders could move to dismiss the measure under the argument that it is irrelevant to the current situation, but that procedure would still receive a vote.
Schumer said he hoped at least the five Republicans would hold to their position because they “understand how important this is.”
Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., talks with reporters outside the Senate chamber during a vote at the Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks with reporters at the Senate Subway on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
