Rhino Files: Facts and Conservation
How to distinguish between black and white rhino in the wild.
Black rhino are more likely to be solitary and are shyer, keeping to thicker bushy areas. White rhino tend to be in groups. Black rhino have short necks and hooked lips which make browsing branches easier. White rhino have long necks and wide mouths for eating grass.
Black Rhino.
White rhinos aren’t white and black rhinos aren’t black.
The white rhino’s name is taken from the Afrikaans word “weit,” which means “wide” and describes its mouth. Early English settlers in South Africa misinterpreted the "weit" for "white". Black rhinos probably got their name from the dark wet mud in their wallows that made them appear black in color. Both species are essentially gray in color. By comparison, the infamous Blue Rhino, corporate logo for the well known propane tank company, is entirely a figment of its founder’s imagination.
Rhinos have poor eyesight, but very well-developed senses of olfaction (smell) and hearing – which is why a rhino will charge when startled.
White Rhino.
Rhino horn is used in traditional Asian medicine, not as an aphrodisiac.
Powdered rhino horn is commonly used to reduce pain and fever, although there is no scientific evidence that it has any curative powers.
A group of rhinos is called a crash.
The Javan rhino is the rarest land mammal in the world.
Rhino pregnancies last 15 – 16 months.
According to stoprhinopoaching.com, more than 587 rhinos have been poached to date in 2013.
Rhinos have existed on earth for more than 50 million years.
The first rhino ancestors appeared on Earth during an epoch known as the Eocene, along with a number of other mammal species. Earth’s climate at the start of the Eocene was very warm, with temperatures at the poles and the equator not being significantly different, and little or no ice to be found. By the end of the epoch, however, ice sheets and glaciers had returned.
As odd as it may seem, the earliest rhinos lacked horns. Several extinct species once roamed throughout North America and Europe, but today rhinos are found only in Africa and Asia. No rhino species have ever inhabited the South American or Australian continents.
VIDEO: 10 Essential Facts About Rhinos
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