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Upon receiving her degree, MacTavish gave an emotional speech to graduates in which she urged them to “make a difference to our planet”.

MacTavish was awarded the honour “in recognition of her contribution to conservation in South Africa and her promotion of conservation science”.

MacTavish was born and raised in Zimbabwe and is the Principal Investigator for international environmental charity Earthwatch. With her family she runs the Mankwe Wildlife Reserve, which is home to 51 species of large mammals including the endangered white rhino.

In her acceptance speech, MacTavish said: “Rhino poaching around the world has reached epidemic proportions, with three rhinos killed every day. The tragedy of these killings is their brutality. Sadly, most of the rhinos are still alive when poachers hack into their faces.”

She told the tragic story of her beloved rhino Winnie, who was killed by poachers, to reinforce her message.

“I found her as a bloated corpse with her calf inside her. I made a promise that she wouldn’t die in vain, and that somehow maybe her story would save the rhino from extinction. On that day I found my purpose. Sometimes the hardest things you go through in life will give you purpose.”

MacTavish later warned that global warming could contribute to a “mass extinction” of wildlife – but that it wasn’t too late to save the planet.

She said: “Nearly 20,000 species are at high risk of extinction, and Earth could see another mass extinction. Unlike past mass extinctions caused by asteroid strikes and volcanoes, this extinction is caused by us as humans.

“99 per cent of threatened species are at risk through human activity. But as I look around this room today, I have hope for the future. You have decided to study something that gives you the skills to make a difference in our world.

“I urge you to do good with your degrees, to make a difference to our planet and perhaps ultimately save it from mass extinction. Don’t ever think that how you live your life doesn’t have a massive impact on another person or animal somewhere around the world.”

“My question to you is, are we going to be the generation that is so absorbed by our phones and how many likes we get on social media that we never look up and see what is happening to our planet? Or are we going to be the generation to reverse this? I strongly believe there is still time to do this.”