Animal Spotlight: The Black and The White Rhino

White Rhino and Giraffe

Rhinoceros are a group of five species of odd-toed ungulates in the family rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia. 

The rhinoceros family is characterized by its large size (one of the largest remaining mega fauna alive today), and all species are able to reach one ton or more in weight, have a thick protective skin (1.5–5 cm thick) formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure, have relatively small brains for mammals this size (400–600g), and have a large horn. They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter, if necessary. 

The rhino is prized for its horn. The horns of a rhinoceros are made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails. Both African species have two horns, while the Indian and Javan rhinoceros have a single horn. Rhinoceroses have acute hearing and sense of smell, but poor eyesight. 

Africa’s two rhino species are known as the black and white rhino. Their names have nothing to do with their skin color, but rather, a historical misinterpretation of the Dutch word for wide, which is “wijd,” and the black rhino followed suit. As a grazer, the white rhino has square lips and the black rhino, which is a browser, has a hooked lip.

Both black and white rhinos have one calf after long intervals of about 6 to 7 years. They both use well-defined dung piles to mark territories and to communicate. This is achieved by their ability to “read” the pheromones or chemical messages, left in their urine and dung. 

The white rhino is the most abundant rhino alive today and is the larger of the two animals as it can weigh over 9,000 pounds. Their square mouths are designed to take large bites of grass. They live in crashes or herds of up to 14 animals (usually mostly female). Sub-adult males will congregate, often in association with an adult female. Most adult bulls are solitary. They are known to be less aggressive than their cousins, the black rhino.

The much rarer black rhino is smaller than the white rhino, reaching a weight of 3,000 pounds. Their teeth are designed to sheer though branches, shoots, thorny wood bushes, and leafy plants. Their diet helps to reduce the amount of woody plants, which results in more grasses growing for the benefit of other animals. This animal is solitary and has a reputation for being far more aggressive and foul tempered than the white rhino. They will often charge at the first sign of danger.

Mark Homann’s brush with danger:

The black rhino’s temper is something I can personally attest to. I worked for a time at Senuko, a Lodge in the Save Valley Conservancy, where they have a healthy population of these animals, and we specialized in the tracking of them. I had been doing this for some time with a degree of success when I took four of our guests to find an animal. We had been tracking them all morning for a distance of about 6 miles when we came across a bull resting up in the shade. He looked fast asleep to me, so after a quick check of our wind direction we went in to get a closer look. The wind changed direction for a moment and took our scent to the “sleeping” rhino. The next thing I knew he was charging towards us at full speed. The world around me went into slow motion as he covered the distance between us. I had time to fire around over his head (the only time I ever discharged my firearm in 18 years as a guide). Thankfully this worked and the animal veered away from us. He was so close I could have hit him on the back. Needless to say the walk back to our land rover seemed quite short!

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