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| Source: Animilia Life |
Classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Perissodactyla
• Family: Rhinocerotidae
Species
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| Source: Rhinoink |
• There are five species of rhino and
11 subspecies of rhino: three are from southern Asia (Indian (greater
one-horned), Javan and Sumatran Rhinoceros) and two are from Africa (Black and
White Rhinoceros).
• White rhinos: Ceratotherium simum
(southern white rhinoceros), Ceratotherium cottoni (northern white rhinoceros).
IUCN lists these as subspecies of Ceratotherium simum.
• Black rhinos: Diceros bicornis.
Subspecies:
Diceros bicornis bicornis, Diceros bicornis brucii, Diceros bicornis
chobiensis, Diceros bicornis ladoensis, Diceros bicornis longipes, Diceros
bicornis michaeli, Diceros bicornis minor, Diceros bicornis occidentalis.
• Sumatran
rhinos: Dicerorhinus sumatrensis.
Subspecies: Dicerorhinus
sumatrensis harrisoni, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis lasiotis, Dicerorhinus
sumatrensis sumatransis.
• Javan
rhinos: Rhinoceros unicornis.
• Greater
one-horned rhinos: Rhinoceros sondaicus.
Subspecies: Rhinoceros sondaicus
annamiticus, Rhinoceros sondaicus inermis, Rhinoceros sondaicus sondaicus.
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| Source: Wikipedia |
Population
Current
estimated populations for each species are:
• White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum):
20,165
• Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis): 4,880
• Indian
Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis): 3,624
• Sumatran
Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis): 140 - 210
• Javan
Rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus): 35 - 45
Meaning
The
name rhinoceros means ‘nose horn’. It comes from the Greek words rhino (nose)
and ceros (horn).
General
• A group of rhinoceros is called a
‘herd’ or a ‘crash’.
• Rhino species go back at least 50 million
years. Some of the world’s first rhinos didn’t have horns and roamed through
North America and Europe.
• They have a lifespan of about 35 to
40 years.
• They have an extended “vocabulary” of
snorts, grunts, growls, squeaks, and bellows.
• The largest rhino species is the
white rhino and is the second largest land mammal after the elephant. Adult
males weighing up to a massive 3.6 tons.
• The average rhino measures about 60
inches at the shoulder and can weigh form 1 to 2 tons.
• The smallest rhino species is the
Sumatran rhino.
• Rhinos are odd-toed (three toes)
ungulates, which mean they are mammals that have hooves.
• Rhinos are more closely related to
horses than hippos.
• The rhino has a symbiotic
relationship (where two animals work together to help each other) with
oxpecker. It picks parasitic ticks out of the rhino’s skin. It even creates a
commotion when it senses danger which then alerts the rhino. The bird also
screech loudly when humans approach.
• For all its bulk, the rhino is very
agile and can quickly turn in a small space. Rhinos can run about 40 miles per
hour and only run on their toes.
• Relative to their large body size,
rhinoceros have small brains.
• Rhinoceros have thick, sensitive skin
due to sunburns and insect bites.
• Rhinos have poor eyesight (they will
sometimes charge without an apparent reason), but very well-developed senses of
olfaction (smell) and hearing. They find each other by following the trail of
scent they leave behind on the landscape.
• A rhino finds it difficult to detect
someone standing only a hundred feet away if the individual remains still. But
if that person makes the faintest sound or the rhino is able to smell the
person, it will certainly detect him, even at a far distance.
• They have specialised upper lips,
which is prehensile (capable of grasping). It is adapted for feeding from
shrubs which it strips the leaves and shoots from.
• Their horns can grow as much as three
inches (eight centimetres) a year.
• Rhinoceros horns are made from a
protein called keratin. It is the same substance that fingernails and hair are
made of. Strong mineral deposits run up the core of a rhino's horn, similarly
like a stick through a popsicle.
• Black rhinos, white rhinos and
Sumatran rhinos have two horns. Javan rhinos and greater one-horned rhinos have
one.
• They use their horns in battles for
territory or females, and to defend themselves from lions, tigers and hyenas.
• Specifically, females use their horns
to protect their young, while males use them to battle attackers.
• They can’t sweat and will roll in mud
or dust to keep it cool as well as provide them with a protective coating of
mud against biting insects.
• Females use their horns to protect
their young, while males use them to battle attackers.
• Rhinos can grow to over 6 feet tall
and more than 11 feet in length.
• The difference in lip shape of the
black and white rhino is related to their diets.
Habitat and Range
Rhinos
are found in parts of Africa and Asia. Their preferred habitat varies, from
savannas to dense forests in tropical and subtropical regions. Black and white
rhinos are found primarily in the southern and eastern countries of Africa. The
white rhino’s habitat is the grassland and open savanna. The black rhino lives
mainly in areas with dense, woody vegetation.
Sumatran
rhinos are found only in small areas of Malaysian and Indonesian swamps and
rain forests. Javan rhinos were once found in a number of Asian countries. But
they only live in Indonesia and Vietnam nowadays.
The
Indian rhino (Greater one-horned rhino) once roamed across most of the Indian
subcontinent, but today is only found in in the swamps and rain forests of
northern India and southern Nepal.
Rhinos
live in home ranges that occasionally overlap. Feeding grounds, water holes and
wallows (water where rhinos wallow in the mud) are frequently shared.
No
known rhino species have ever inhabited the South American or Australian
continents.
Diet
They
are herbivores (consume vegetation only). They need to have a tremendous amount
to fill their large bodies. They need to live within 5 km of water as they need
to drink water daily. In dry conditions they will dig for water using their
forefeet. As a result of the structure of their mouths, they can’t easily graze
compared to other animals. Instead, they tear up and eat clumps of long
grasses. Their snouts are differently shaped to accommodate dissimilar types of
food. For example, black rhinos mostly eat trees or bushes as their long lips
enable them to pick leaves and fruit from up high. White rhinos have flat,
square-shaped snouts and are ideally suited to graze on grass.
Behaviour
• They are territorial animals. They
use scent as a signal, spraying urine along paths and using communal dung heaps
to mark their territory.
• Rhinos make use of dung piles or
middens and scrapes (spray-urination sites). The middens are used by more than
one rhino and by both black and white rhino.
• A dominant male rule over an area of
land but the male will allow some sub-dominate males to live on his territory.
Females roam freely around several different territories.
• Though rhinos are often solitary,
they do occasionally form groups.
• Rhinos are ill-tempered especially
when they are constantly disturbed.
• Rhinos communicate with squeaks,
snorts and grunts (and poop).
• When rhinos are happy, they make a
loud "mmwonk" sound with their mouths.
• When rhinos spend time with their
young and other rhinos, their behaviour is more gentle and playful.
• Rhinos spend their days and nights
grazing and only sleep during the hottest parts of the day.
• Under the hot African sun, white
rhinos take cover by lying in the shade.
• Rhinos are also wallowers: When they
aren't eating, they find a suitable water hole and enjoy a cooling mud soak.
Rhinos rely on mud to protect their skin from biting pests and the blistering
sun.
• Rhino use their horns for
self-defence and attacking opponents or predators. 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.
• Some rhinos use their teeth – not
their horns – for defence.
Reproduction
• A breeding ritual is undertaken by
the male rhino to attract a female: He brushes his horn over the ground, charge
at bushes, rushes back and forth and frequently sprays urine. They usually
fight during courtship, sometimes leading to serious wounds inflicted by their
horns. A female frequently, and aggressively, reject them but then later
succumbs. After mating, the pair goes their separate ways.
• They mate at any time of the year.
• Every two and a half to five years, a
female rhino will reproduce.
• Female rhinos carry their young for a
gestation period of 15 to 16 months.
• They usually have one calf. Sometimes
they have twins.
• They can actually walk 10 minutes
after they are born.
• At birth, they are quite big, at 88
to 140 lbs (40 to 64 kg).
• Although they nurse for a year,
calves are able to begin eating vegetation one week after birth.
• The closest rhino relationship is
between a female and her calf. Mother rhinos are very nurturing but will
protect their calves fiercely and will keep it hidden for a couple of weeks due
to the fear of being trampled on.
• The young stay with them until they
are approximately 3 years old.
• As they mature, it may leave its
mother and join other females and their young, where it is tolerated for some time
before living completely on its own.
Threats
• A spotted hyena and lions are serious
threats.
• Loss of habitat has also played a
significant role in decreasing rhino population numbers.
• But human beings are the deadliest of
all. Rhinos rank among the most endangered species on Earth and are threatened
to extinction due to poaching. They are killed for their horns, which are sold
in the illegal wildlife trade.
• For the Sumatran rhino in particular,
over-hunting has occurred for such a long time that the remaining population is
broken into disconnected groups, unable to breed and to continue adding to the
species genetic diversity.
• Three of the five rhinoceros species
are listed as being critically endangered (the list's highest risk category).
These are Black, Javan and Sumatran Rhinoceros. They have a 50% chance of
becoming extinct in three generations.
Conservation
• Even though conservation has been
successful, a lot can still be done to ultimately bring back the Rhino
population to what it once was so that they can thrive and avoid being lost
forever.
Species
Here is a closer look at the five Rhino species:
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| Source: Rhinosourcecenter |
White Rhinoceros
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| Source: Wikipedia |
• The white rhino’s name comes from the
Dutch word “weit” which means wide and is talking about their wide, square
muzzle. The name of the white rhino is sometimes said to be a corruption of the
Dutch word “wijd” but nobody really knows where the names come from.
• They are also the largest land mammal
after the elephant.
• They are the largest rhino species
and can weigh over 3500 kg (7700 lb). It grows to 12 to 13 feet (3.7 to 4
meters) long and up to 6 feet (1.8 m) from hoof to shoulder. It weighs around
5,000 lbs. (2,300 kilograms). A white rhino can stand 6 feet tall at the
shoulder and weigh almost 8 thousand pounds or the same as 50 average-sized
men. The white rhino grows to 1.8m and weighs over two tons.
• White rhinoceroses are grey.
• White rhinos live on Africa's grassy
plains.
• They are the most abundant rhino
species. But about 11,000 white rhinos survive in the wild, and many
organizations are working to protect this much loved animal. The white rhino
once roamed much of sub-Saharan Africa, but today is on the verge of extinction
due to poaching.
• White rhinos are "near
threatened," which means they may be considered threatened by extinction
in the near future.
• Southern white rhinos have an
increasing population; there are 20,405 southern white rhinos. However, the
northern white rhino is considered "extinct" in the wild.
• The white rhino has a wide mouth. It
has a squared lip. The white rhino has a long, flat upper lip perfect for
grazing on grasses. They mainly eat grass and can even eat plants that are
toxic to other animals. White rhinos graze on grasses, walking with their
enormous heads and squared lips lowered to the ground.
• White rhino have long necks and wide
mouths for eating grass.
• They have two horns on their head.
The longer horn sits on top of the nose. A white rhino's horns are slightly
smaller than a black rhino’s. The foremost more prominent than the other.
• The prominent horn for which rhinos
are so well known has been their downfall. Many animals have been killed for
this hard, hair-like growth
• White rhino tends to be much more
social and lives in groups as many as a dozen individuals. They live in
extended family groups, particularly females and their calves, and can
sometimes be seen in large numbers.
• Females reproduce only every two and
a half to five years. Their single calf does not live on its own until it is
about three years old.
• White rhino groups stand in a circle
facing outwards to form a barricade with calves near the centre.
Black Rhinoceros
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| Source: Animalspot |
• The Black Rhino is also called the
Hook-lipped Rhinoceros.
• They are grey. Interestingly, they
frequently assume the colour of the local soil in which they wallow.
• Adults roam within specific areas,
called home ranges or territories.
• They are solitary animals and usually
live by itself except for females and their offspring.
• Black rhino are shy, keeping to
thicker bushy areas.
• They are active mainly at night.
• Black rhinos feed at night and during
the dawn and dusk. They do more of their feeding and drinking during the cool
hours of the night than during the day.
• Under the hot African sun, they take
cover by lying in the shade.
• The black rhino has a pointed upper
lip.
• They have short necks and hooked lips
which make browsing branches easier.
• It has a hooked lip which allows it
to feed on trees and shrubs. Black rhinos are browsers that get most of their
sustenance from eating trees and bushes. They use their lips to pluck leaves
and fruit from the branches.
• They are browsers, using their
pointed upper lips like a miniature elephant trunk to twist off low-growing
branches of trees and shrubs. Black rhinos are browsers that get most of their
sustenance from eating trees and bushes. They use their lips to pluck leaves
and fruit from the branches.
• They eat woody trees, shrubs and
herbs.
• They must drink at least every two to
three days. If succulent plants form a large part of their diet, they can go
without drinking for longer.
• It’s the most aggressive species of
its family.
• Despite their enormous bulk, they can
charge at great speeds of 50km per hour. Black rhino are the fastest kind of
rhino with a top speed of 55km/ hour.
• They stop growing when they are about
seven years old.
• They have two horns. The foremost
more prominent than the other.
• The front horn can grow to 20 to 51
inches (51 to 130 centimeters), while the rear horn can grow to about 20
inches.
• The longer horn sits on top of the
nose.
• Black rhino grow to 1.6m tall, weigh
up to 1 400kg.
• Black rhinos fight each other and
have the highest rate of death among mammals in fights among the same species.
Fifty per cent of males and 30% of females die from these intra-species fights.
• Females reproduce only every two and
a half to five years. Their single calf does not live on its own until it is
about three years old.
• They use a variety of sounds to
convey emotion: snorts for anger, huffs for greetings and even confused
squeaks. They also leave behind piles of pungent droppings to mark territory.
• They are sometimes bad-tempered, but
are actually just shy and inquisitive. They will run towards anything unusual
in their surroundings, but usually run away if they smell humans.
• Some individual rhinos are very
nervous and a female with a calf will charge anything she considers a potential
threat.
• The black rhino once roamed most of
sub-Saharan Africa, but today is on the verge of extinction due to poaching.
Javan
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| Source: Rainforest Alliance |
• They are also known as the Sunda
Rhino or the lesser one-horned rhino.
• It is the world’s rarest land mammal.
• The Javan Rhino is only found in the
lowland tropical rainforests of one location in the world, the Ujung Kulon
National Park in Java, Indonesia.
• It used to roam all over Asia from
northern India, through to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and another Indonesian
island, Sumatra.
• They are herbivores (only eat
vegetation). They eat a huge variety of different leaves, young shoots and
twigs that grow in unshaded areas and they eat a lot of it.
• It is estimated that they eat up to
50kg (110lb) every day.
• It has a pointed upper lip that helps
it to grab food.
• They have a single horn measuring up
to 20 cm long.
• The Rhino uses its horn to scrape mud
from the sides of wallows, to get food from plants and to protect its head when
travelling through thick vegetation.
• If the horn breaks off it will just
grow back.
• They are smaller than the Indian
Rhino but still weigh about 1.5- 2.3 tonnes.
• They have grey or grey- brown skins
with thick folds, making them appear like they are wearing armour for battle.
But, as they spend the day bathing in mud holes most of the time their skin
will appear black.
• The Javan Rhino is a shy animal.
• Instead of sound, the Javan Rhino
communicates with the sense of smell using dung heaps and urine spraying.
Sometimes, they drag the dung with their hind foot for several meters. They us their dung and urine to communicate
instead of sound.
• Pregnancy of a Javan Rhino lasts
between 16-19 months.
• Sadly, these ancient beasts are
becoming ever so rare with only 60 individuals left in the wild.
• In the wild they can live up to 35-40
years.
• They are classified as Critically
Endangered.
Sumatran
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| Source: WWF |
• The Sumatran Rhino is also known as
Hairy Rhino or Asian Two-Horned Rhino.
• The remaining populations can be
found in the hilly areas of tropical rainforests on the Indonesian island of
Sumatra and the Kalimantan province of Borneo.
• They used to roam parts of Asia from
India to Thailand, Lao, Cambodia and the Indonesian islands, Java and Borneo.
• It is the smallest and the hairiest
of the of the rhino family.
• They weigh approximately 800 kg
(1760lbs) which is less than half of the African Rhino and only grow to around
1.5 meters (5 feet). It grows to 8 to 10 feet (2.5 to 3 m) long and up to 4.8
feet (1.5 m) from hoof to shoulder. It weighs around 1,765 lbs. (800 kg).
• Usually, their reddish-brown skin is
covered in patches of short, dark coarse hair with longer, thicker hair around
their ears and tail.
• It is the only Asian rhino that has
two horns.
• The larger horn known as the “nasal”
or “anterior” horn grows from the nose, measuring between 15 - 25 cm (5.9 - 9.8
in). The other, much smaller horn is located between the eyes called the
“posterior” horn only measuring about 10cm (3.9 inches). a Sumatran rhinos
horns are about 10 to 31 inches (25 to 79 cm) for the front and less than 3
inches (7 cm) for the rear.
• Their horns help them to pull down
vegetation to eat and for scraping mud from the sides of wallows. They will eat leaves, twigs, bark and fruit,
but they have also a bit of a sweet tooth for mangos and figs.
• They are solitary and territorial
animals. Males will claim up to 5000 hectares as home turf, sometimes
overlapping territory with females, who claim 1000-1500 hectares.
• To avoid bumping into each other they
will mark their territory with dung and urine, and by scraping the ground with
their feet.
• They can live for up to 30-40 years
in the wild, but as they are so rare this is only an estimate.
• Sumatran Rhinos will only give birth
to one calf at a time. In the wild, Sumatran Rhinos can give birth every 3-4
years but in captivity it is very rare.
• Calves will stay with their mothers
for 16- 17 months. Sometimes, after leaving their mothers, young Sumatran
Rhinos will join together before braving the solo lifestyle.
• The Sumatran Rhino is Critically
Endangered. However, like its cousins, the Black Rhino and the Javan Rhino,
they have been aggressively poached for their horn putting their survival at
risk.
• The Sumatran Rhino has been roaming
planet Earth longer than any other living mammal, but time is running out for
these ancient creatures.
• They are most active at dawn and
dusk, during their meal times.
• After a long hard feeding session,
they will spend most of their time relaxing in mud baths.
• They bathe for between 80 and 300
minutes every day! This mud wallowing is an essential pastime as if it helps
them keep cool and protects their skin from diseases and insects.
• Their favourite pastime is wallowing
in mud baths where they relax for up to 300 minutes per day!
• Fewer than 250 are left in the wild.
• The Sumatran rhino is the closest
living relative of the ancient woolly rhino.
Greater one-horned
Rhino
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| Source: WWF |
• The greater one-horned rhino's horn
is 8 to 24 inches (20 to 61 cm).
• When a greater one-horned rhino is
threatened it slashes and gouges with its long, sharp incisors and canine teeth
of its lower jaw.
• The greatest concentrations or
densities are in India’s Kaziranga National Park, where visitors can typically
see more than a dozen individuals at one time and as many as 50 in a single
day!
• They are vulnerable as they may
become endangered unless circumstances improve.
• The total population estimate in 2007
was 2,575 individuals, according to the IUCN.
• Fortunately, their population is
increasing; there are 3,333 greater one-horned rhinos in the world.
References
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/black-rhinoceros/
http://www.defenders.org/rhinoceros/basic-facts
http://www.livescience.com/27439-rhinos.html
http://www.onekind.org/education/animals_a_z/animals_a_z/
http://www.wwf.org.za/what_we_do/rhino_programme/rhino_facts/
