South Africa recorded a 16% drop in rhino poaching last year, the second consecutive decline of that magnitude, the environment ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry said in a statement that 352 rhinos were killed for their horns in 2025, down from 420 in 2024 and 499 in 2023.

South Africa is home to nearly half of the critically-endangered black rhino population in Africa and to the world's largest population of near-threatened white rhinos.

Rhino horns - made primarily of keratin, a protein also found in human hair and fingernails - are prized in some East Asian countries for traditional medicine and jewellery.

Despite the overall drop in poaching last year, there was a sharp rise in the number of rhinos killed in the Kruger National Park, the country's flagship game reserve.

One hundred and seventy-five rhinos were killed last year in the park, much of which is remote and hard to police, up from 88 the year before.

But there was a steep fall in poaching at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal province, from 198 rhinos killed in 2024 to 63 last year.