scientific
name
Diceros
bicornis
size/weight/height
Length: 10'
Weight: maximum 3000 lbs.
adaptations/coloration
Color: skin
dull-dark gray
Appearance: color of soil due to fondness for
mud & dust baths
Eyesight: poor
Foot: 3 toes
Forage: browser uses prehensile upper lip
must drink daily hindgut fermentation
allows high fiber diet
Hearing: keen
Horn: most conspicuous 2 horns longest
horn in front dense aggregation of keratin
fibers (human fingernail)
Legs: short stout capable of charge 30
mph maximum
Smell: keen primary method of detecting
danger
Teeth: none in front
behavior
solitary
Bath: love mud & dust baths provides
cooling & protection from biting insects
Movement: morning & evening midday
rest & sleep
Personality: reputation of unprovoked
aggression & sudden intruder charging
reproduction/lifespan
Sexual
Maturity: male 7 - 8 yrs. (dominant status 10
yrs.) female 5-7 yrs.
Courtship: male trumpets when female is in
heat
Birth Interval: 2-4 yrs.
Gestation: 15 mos.
Young: 1 ~88 lbs.
Parenting: strong bond between mother &
most recent young young stay with mother
for 2 yrs. in wild
diet
Herbivore
Wild: plant foliage
Zoo: alfalfa, apples, carrots, hoof-stock
pellets, lettuce, vitamin supplements &
leaves & twigs from zoo keepers (run
excitedly around enclosure when they see zoo
keeper with choice "tidbits")
habitat/range
savanna
forest Cape to Somalia
status
US Endangered
CITES App I SSP participant
considered the worlds most endangered
mammal; In 1970 - 65,000 currently ~3500
Greatest Threat: poaching for horn India,
China & Far East horn is used in folk
medicine as cure for headaches, fever & as
an aphrodisiac can bring $24,000/ea. in
Far East in North Yemen horn used as
dagger handles - sign of status among men
White Rhino more abundant than Black Rhino
other
5 species
worldwide:
Africa:
Black - 2 horns longest horn in front
prehensile lip for browsing
White - 2 horns longest horn in front
broad lips for grazing
Asia:
Sumatran - 2 horns longest horn in back
hairy
Indian - 1 horn heavy folds of skin give
armored appearance
Javan - 1 horn heavy folds of skin
much smaller than Indian rhino
|
