The North Carolina Zoo is part of an effort to conserve the habitat of black rhinos in Africa, where attempts to protect them have become harder after the pandemic struck. Part of the plan is to expand the use of software that helps rangers assess the threat of poachers who hunt the animals for their horns, which are sold on an international black market. Black rhinoceroses once roamed much of southern and eastern Africa, but poaching has reduced their numbers. There are fewer than 6,000 in the wild now.