 Poaching due to increasing horn prices is considered the main threat to the population

The IUCN considers the living northern Namibian black rhino populations to belong to the subspecies "D. bicornis bicornis", and does not recognize a separate "D. b. occidentalis".This synonymy, based upon du Toit (1987) was, however, considered erroneous by Groves and Grubb (2011), and "D. b. occidentalis" was re-established as a valid subspecies.As all southernmost populations of black rhinoceros were exterminated by the mid-19th century, "D. b. bicornis" is completely extinct today.