"Big Five" is a game hunting term, first used in Africa to describe the most prized animals for big game hunters. These animals were chosen as the "big five" because of the element of danger and difficulty involved in hunting them on foot.
Today, four of these animals are now endangered - most critically, the black rhino - and only buffaloes now exist in sufficient numbers to be hunted. Poaching remains a significant problem for many African animals throughout the native countries of the Big Five (including Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Tanzania).
