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Rhino
The rhinoceros is famed in the Far East for its horn, which is supposed to have aphrodisiac powers when ground to a powder. The poaching which has decimated the rhino population is largely due to the monetary value of the horn, which is why game conservationists are cutting off the horns of rhino in an attempt to devalue the rhino. Unfortunately, this tactic is only having limited success.
Swahili Name: Faru
Scientific Name: Black (Diceros bicornis), white (Ceratotherium simum)
Size: About 60 inches at the shoulder
Weight: 1 to 11/2 tons (black rhino), over 2 tons (white rhino)
Lifespan: 35 to 40 years
Habitat: Grassland and open savannas
Diet: Vegetarian
Gestation: 16 months
Predators: Humans
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Genus: Ceratotherium
Species: simumLength: 145 - 158 inches
Weight: 3750 lbs
Gestation: 487 days
Offspring: 1
Life Span: 45 years
Top Speed (Ground): 30 mph
White Rhinoceros = Ceratotherium simum
Also Called: Square-lipped rhinoceros
The rhinoceros is a large, primitive-looking mammal that in fact dates from the Miocene era millions of years ago. In recent decades rhinos have been relentlessly hunted to the point of near extinction. Since 1970 the world rhino population has declined by 90 percent, with five species remaining in the world today, all of which are endangered.
The white or square-lipped rhino is one of two rhino species in Africa. It in turn occurs as two subspecies, the southern and the northern. The southern dwindled almost to extinction in the early 20th century, but was protected on farms and reserves, enabling it to increase enough to be reintroduced. The northern white rhino has recovered in Democratic Republic of Congo from about 15 in 1984 to about 30 in the late 1990s. This population, however, has recently been severely threatened by political conflict and instability.
DESCRIPTION:
The white rhino's name derives from the Dutch "weit," meaning wide, a reference to its wide, square muzzle adapted for grazing. The white rhino, which is actually gray, has a pronounced hump on the neck and a long face.
The black, or hooked-lipped, rhino, along with all other rhino species, is an odd-toed ungulate (three toes on each foot). It has a thick, hairless, gray hide. Both the black and white rhino have two horns, the longer of which sits at the front of the nose.
The rhinoceros is one of only a few remaining “megaherbivores”. Five species of rhino are still alive today. The White rhinoceros is one of the African species. It has two horns on its snout. Unlike the horns of cattle, sheep, and antelopes, the horns of the rhino are not made of bone. Instead, the are a lump of keratin fibers. The White rhino actually has almost the same color skin as the Black rhino. They are probably named after the color of dirt that covers their body. The White rhinoceros has a distinctive hump on the back of its neck that houses the ligament that supports its large head. The footprint of the rhino resembles an ace of clubs because of its three toes on each foot. The White rhinoceros is also called the Square-lipped rhinoceros because of its broad, flat lip that helps it graze on short grasses.
DIET:
All rhinoceroses are herbivores, living off of various types of foliage.
The black rhino is a browser, with a triangular-shaped upper lip ending in a mobile grasping point. It eats a large variety of vegetation, including leaves, buds and shoots of plants, bushes and trees.
The white rhino, on the other hand, is a grazer feeding on grasses.
The White rhinoceros had broad lips that help it take in grass from a large area, allowing to to consume more grass in less time. Rhinos drink water from watering holes almost daily. However, when conditions are dry, they can survive four or five days without water.
HABITAT:
Black rhinos have various habitats, but mainly areas with dense, woody vegetation. White rhinos live in savannas with water holes, mud wallows and shade trees.
The White rhinoceros lives in Northeastern and Southern Africa. Since it lives on grasses, it prefers the savannas.
BEHAVIOR:
Rhinos live in home ranges that sometimes overlap with each other. Feeding grounds, water holes and wallows may be shared. The black rhino is usually solitary. The white rhino tends to be much more gregarious. Rhinos are also rather ill-tempered and have become more so in areas where they have been constantly disturbed. While their eyesight is poor, which is probably why they will sometimes charge without apparent reason, their sense of smell and hearing are very good. They have an extended "vocabulary" of growls, grunts, squeaks, snorts and bellows. When attacking, the rhino lowers its head, snorts, breaks into a gallop reaching speeds of 30 miles an hour, and gores or strikes powerful blows with its horns. Still, for all its bulk, the rhino is very agile and can quickly turn in a small space. The rhino has a symbiotic relationship with oxpeckers, also called tick birds. In Swahili the tick bird is named "askari wa kifaru," meaning "the rhino's guard." The bird eats ticks it finds on the rhino and noisily warns of danger. Although the birds also eat blood from sores on the rhino's skin and thus obstruct healing, they are still tolerated.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE:
Rhinoceroses are mostly solitary animals, although a mother will stay near her most recent offspring until the next offspring is born. The White rhinoceros is the most sociable. Immature individuals will form groups, as will mothers without children. This can result in a group of up to 7 rhinoceroses. Males almost always stay by themselves, except for an occasional encounter with a female.
BIRTH & OFFSPRING:
The closest rhino relationship is between a female and her calf, lasting from 2 to 4 years. As the older calves mature, they leave their mothers and may join other females and their young, where they are tolerated for some time before living completely on their own.
After a gestation period of 16 months, a mother White rhinoceros will give birth to a single calf weighing about 143 pounds. The calf will stay with its mother until her next offspring is born. If threatened, the mother will stand guard over her baby. Otherwise, the infant usually runs ahead of its mother.
PREDATORS:
Man is the cause of the demise of the rhino. In the wild, the adult black or white rhino has no true natural predators and, despite its size and antagonistic reputation, it is extremely easy for man to kill. A creature of habitat that lives in a well-defined home range, it usually goes to water holes daily, where it is easily ambushed. The dramatic decline in rhino numbers is unfortunate in an era of increasing conservation and wildlife awareness, but efforts are underway to save the rhino from extinction.
SENSES:
Rhinoceroses have very poor eyesight. In fact, they cannot see a person standing motionless if they are more than 100 feet away. Since its eyes are of opposite sides of its head, the rhinoceros must look with one eye at a time to see straight ahead. They can rotate their ears to pick up sounds, resulting in fairly good hearing. However, the rhino most relies on its sense of smell. In fact, the part of the body responsible for smell (the olfactory passages) is larger than its entire brain.
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