# charismatic mega-fauna and rhino ranching **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 1, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564 "2010-12-01T17:41:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![usuboy71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/8797f3/32.png) [@usuboy71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usuboy71)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/1 "2010-12-01T17:41:56Z")
Can we preserve charismatic mega-fauna in rhino ranches? ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/2 "2010-12-01T17:44:32Z")
“Charismatic mega-fauna” – is that some oblique reference to the Tea Party? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/3 "2010-12-01T17:45:09Z")
That’d be RINO ranching. ---
**Author:** ![usuboy71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/8797f3/32.png) [@usuboy71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usuboy71)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/4 "2010-12-01T17:46:08Z")
Definition of Charismatic mega-fauna: large animal species with widespread popular appeal that environmental activists use to achieve conservation goals well beyond just those species ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/5 "2010-12-01T17:47:15Z")
I imagine it’d be pretty tough to keep a polar bear on any sort of ranch. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/6 "2010-12-01T17:49:09Z")
> [@usuboy71](#): > > Definition of Charismatic mega-fauna: large animal species with widespread popular appeal that environmental activists use to achieve conservation goals well beyond just those species If I might ask, from where did you get this definition? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/7 "2010-12-01T17:50:23Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If I might ask, from where did you get this definition? He pretty much quoted the Wikipedia definition. I don’t really get the OP’s question, but he didn’t make up the term or the idea. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/8 "2010-12-01T17:51:03Z")
Flora the time beinga. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/9 "2010-12-01T17:51:31Z")
For a minute I wondered if it was a new type of Christian sect. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/10 "2010-12-01T17:53:27Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > He pretty much quoted the Wikipedia definition. I don’t really get the OP’s question, but he didn’t make up the term or the idea. I didn’t think he had-I just wanted to know more about it. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/11 "2010-12-01T17:56:13Z")
My loose interpretation of the OP (which may well be wrong) is asking, can we just preserve the large, cool animals in ranches or zoos or something, thereby taking away that argument from preservation-types. I think it goes something like this: PETA or the Green Party or whoever says we must preserve all of this land, feeding area, whatever, otherwise elephants, lions, etc., will disappear forever. The OP suggests preserving just the cool animals, and now we can exploit those lands for whatever purposes. It takes away from the Green Party or whoever their ability to use large, pretty animals to basically save whole areas. It will be more difficult to hold off development if we’re doing it to preserve some endangered slug or something. I think that’s what the OP is about, but I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/12 "2010-12-01T17:58:12Z")
I’m still confused as to what the OP means by “rhino ranches”, though. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/13 "2010-12-01T18:01:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m still confused as to what the OP means by “rhino ranches”, though. So am I. It’d help if he would explain the whole concept. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/14 "2010-12-01T18:01:50Z")
Sort of alluded to in [this book review](http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2009/0807/rhino-ranch). Basically what it sounds like: a sanctuary for rhinos. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/15 "2010-12-01T18:05:48Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I imagine it’d be pretty tough to keep a polar bear on any sort of ranch. It could sit under a rhino for shade. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/16 "2010-12-01T18:07:03Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m still confused as to what the OP means by “rhino ranches”, though. Well, of course it’s not an actual **ranch,** for production of meat. That would be ridiculous. It’s more like a rodeo. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/17 "2010-12-01T18:07:23Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m still confused as to what the OP means by “rhino ranches”, though. It’s in the Hidden Valley. ---
**Author:** ![usuboy71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/8797f3/32.png) [@usuboy71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usuboy71)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/18 "2010-12-01T18:09:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m still confused as to what the OP means by “rhino ranches”, though. Rhino ranching refers to farming rhinos for their horns. Poaching is a big problem in Africa because of the false belief in some parts of the world that rhino horns are an aphrodisiac. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/19 "2010-12-01T18:11:44Z")
> [@usuboy71](#): > > Rhino ranching refers to farming rhinos for their horns. Poaching is a big problem in Africa because of the false belief in some parts of the world that rhino horns are an aphrodisiac. Interesting. Now could you please unite the two terms into a coherent paragraph that puts across what you are trying to say? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564/20 "2010-12-01T18:41:06Z")
> [@usuboy71](#): > > Rhino ranching refers to farming rhinos for their horns. Poaching is a big problem in Africa because of the false belief in some parts of the world that rhino horns are an aphrodisiac. Then I’d suggest flooding the market with counterfeit rhino-horn powder. Seriously, how expensive could it be to round up bone-meal from conventional slaughterhouses and pass it off as rhino-horn? It’s not like anybody is going to be killed or injured by the counterfeit (or at least not in greater numbers than those already killed or injured by the real thing - I assume it’s not zero, since snorting or injecting rhino horn or however it is administered sounds like a pretty dumb thing to do in the first place). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charismatic-mega-fauna-and-rhino-ranching/562564.md?page=2)