Black Rhinoceros
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 and 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 and dust baths provides cooling and protection
from biting insects
Movement: morning and evening midday rest and sleep
Personality: reputation of unprovoked aggression and 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 about 88 lbs.
Parenting: strong bond between mother and 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 and leaves and 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 world's
most endangered mammal; In 1970 - 65,000 currently about 3500
Greatest Threat: poaching for horn India, China and Far East
horn is used in folk medicine as cure for headaches, fever and 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
oregon
zoo exhibit
Africa
Savanna
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