Rhinoceros
(), often colloquially abbreviated rhino
, is a name used to group five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae
. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia. Three of the five species—the Javan, Sumatran and Black Rhinoceros—are critically endangered. The Indian is endangered, with fewer than 2,700 individuals remaining in the wild. The White is registered as "vulnerable", with approximately 17,500 remaining in the wild, as reported by the International Rhino Foundation. [1] [2] The Rhinoceros Beetle is named as such due to its horns, which simulate rhino's horns.
The white rhino is actually not white at all. The name comes from the Dutch word whyt
, meaning "wide", referring to the wide square mouth that allows the rhino to graze, as opposed to the black rhino which is a browser.
The rhinoceros family is characterized by its large size (one of the largest remaining megafauna alive today), with all of the species able to reach one ton or more in weight; herbivorous diet; and a thick protective skin, 1.5–5 cm thick, formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure; relatively small brains for mammals this size (400–600g); and 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. Unlike other perissodactyls, the African species of rhinoceros lack teeth at the front of their mouths, relying instead on their powerful premolar and molar teeth to grind up plant food. [3]
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. [4] Both African species and the Sumatran Rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan Rhinoceros have a single horn. Rhinoceroses have acute hearing and sense of smell, but poor eyesight. Most live to be about 60 years old or more.
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RHINOCEROS TICKETS
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Taxonomy and naming
The word
rhinoceros
is derived through Latin from the
Greek ?????e???, which is composed of ????-, ??? (
rhino-
,
rhis
), meaning
nose, and ???a? (
keras
), meaning
horn. The standard plural in English is
rhinoceroses
(some dictionaries also list
rhinoceri
, although this is neither a proper Latin, Greek or English plural form). The
collective noun for a group of rhinoceros is
crash
or
herd
.
[5] They are commonly known as rhinos.
The five living species fall into three categories. The two African species, the
White Rhinoceros and the
Black Rhinoceros, diverged during the early
Pliocene (about 5 million years ago) but the Dicerotini group to which they belong originated in the middle
Miocene, about 14.2 million years ago. The main difference between black and white rhinos is the shape of their mouths. White rhinos have broad flat lips for grazing and black rhinos have long pointed lips for eating foliage. A popular—if unverified—theory claims that the name
White
Rhinoceros was actually a mistake, or rather a corruption of the word
wyd
("wide" in
Afrikaans), referring to their square lips.
[6]
White Rhinoceros are divided into Northern and Southern subspecies. There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the endangered
Indian Rhinoceros and the critically endangered
Javan Rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago. The critically endangered
Sumatran Rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (about 20 million years ago).
[7] The extinct
Woolly Rhinoceros of northern Europe and Asia was also a member of this tribe.
A subspecific hybrid white rhino (
Ceratotherium s. simum
×
C. s. cottoni
) was bred at the
Dvur Králové Zoo (Zoological Garden Dvur Kralove nad Labem) in the
Czech Republic in 1977.
Interspecific hybridisation of Black and White Rhinoceros has also been confirmed.
[8]
All rhinoceros species have 82
chromosomes (diploid number, 2N, per cell), except the Black Rhinoceros, which has 84. This is the highest known chromosome number of all
mammals.
White Rhinoceros
The White crapper or Square-lipped Rhinoceros (
Ceratotherium simum
) is, after the
elephant, the most massive remaining land animal in the world, along with the
Indian Rhinoceros and the
hippopotamus, which are of comparable size. There are two
subspecies of White Rhinos; as of 2005,
South Africa has the most of the first subspecies, the
Southern White Rhinoceros (
Ceratotherium simum simum
). The population of Southern White Rhinos is about 14,500, making them the most abundant subspecies of rhino in the world. However, the population of the second subspecies, the critically-endangered
Northern White Rhinoceros (
Ceratotherium simum cottoni
), is down to as few as four individuals in the wild, and as of June 2008 this sub-species could even be extinct.
[9]
The White Rhino has an immense body and large head, a short neck and broad chest. This rhino can exceed 3500 kg (6600 pounds), have a head-and-body length of 3.5-4.6 m (12-15.9 feet) and a shoulder height of 180-200 cm (5.85-6.56 feet) The record-sized White Rhinoceros was about 4600 kg (11,500 lb).
[10] On its snout it has two
horns. The front horn is larger than the other horn and averages 90 cm (23.6 inches) in length and can reach 150 cm (60 inches). The White Rhinoceros also has a prominent muscular hump that supports its relatively large head. The colour of this animal can range from yellowish brown to slate grey. Most of its body hair is found on the ear fringes and tail bristles with the rest distributed rather sparsely over the rest of the body. White Rhinos have the distinctive flat broad mouth which is used for grazing.
Black Rhinoceros
thumb is similar in color to the
White Rhinoceros
The name Black Rhinoceros (
Diceros bicornis
) was chosen to distinguish this species from the
White Rhinoceros (
Ceratotherium simum
). This can be confusing, as those two species are not really distinguishable by colour. There are four subspecies of black rhino: South-central (
Diceros bicornis minor
), the most numerous, which once ranged from central
Tanzania south through
Zambia,
Zimbabwe and
Mozambique to northern and eastern
South Africa; South-western (
Diceros bicornis bicornis
) which are better adapted to the arid and semi-arid savannas of
Namibia, southern
Angola, western
Botswana and western South Africa; East African (
Diceros bicornis michaeli
), primarily in
Tanzania; and West African (
Diceros bicornis longipes
) which was tentatively declared extinct in 2006. Only 8 of this subspecies are left in existence, all in captivity.
[11]
An adult Black crapper stands 150–175 cm (59–67inches) high at the shoulder and is 3.5-3.9 m (11–12.2 feet) in length.
[12] An adult weighs from 850 to 1600 kg (1,800 to 3,200 lb), exceptionally to 1820 kg (4,000 lb), with the females being smaller than the males. Two
horns on the skull are made of
keratin with the larger front horn typically 50 cm long, exceptionally up to 140 cm. Sometimes, a third smaller horn may develop. The Black Rhino is much smaller than the
White Rhino, and has a pointed mouth, which they use to grasp leaves and twigs when feeding.
Indian Rhinoceros
The Indian Rhinoceros or the Great One-horned Rhinoceros (
Rhinoceros unicornis
) is now found almost exclusively in
Nepal and North-Eastern
India. The rhino once inhabited many areas of
Pakistan to
Burma and may have even roamed in
China. But because of human influence their range has shrunk and now they only exist in several protected areas of
India (in
Assam,
West Bengal and a few pairs in
Uttar Pradesh) and
Nepal, plus a few pairs in
Lal Suhanra national park in Pakistan. It is confined to the tall
grasslands and
forests in the foothills of the
Himalayas.
The Indian Rhinoceros has thick, silver-brown skin which creates huge folds all over its body. Its upper legs and shoulders are covered in
wart-like bumps, and it has very little body hair. Fully-grown males are larger than females in the wild, weighing from 2500–3200 kg (4,980–6,900 lb). Female Indian rhinos weigh about 1900 kg. The Indian Rhino is from 3-4 meters long. The record-sized specimen of this rhino was approximately 3800 kg. The Indian Rhino has a single
horn that reaches a length of between 20 and 101 cm. Its size is comparable to that of the White Rhino in Africa.
Two-thirds of the world's
Great One-horned Rhinoceroses are now confined to the
Kaziranga National Park situated in the Golaghat district of
Assam, India.
[13]
Javan Rhinoceros
The Javan Rhinoceros (
Rhinoceros sondaicus
) is one of the rarest and most endangered large
mammals anywhere in the world.
[14] According to 2002 estimates, only about 60 remain, in Java (
Indonesia) and
Vietnam. Of all the rhino species, the least is known of the Javan Rhino. These animals prefer dense lowland rain forest, tall grass and reed beds that are plentiful with large floodplains and mud wallows. Though once widespread throughout Asia, by the 1930s the rhinoceros was nearly hunted to extinction in
India,
Burma,
Peninsular Malaysia, and
Sumatra for the supposed medical powers of its horn and blood. As of 2009, there are only 40 of them remaining in Ujung Kulon Conservation, Java, Indonesia.
Like the closely related larger
Indian Rhinoceros, the Javan rhinoceros has only a single horn. Its hairless, hazy gray skin falls into folds into the shoulder, back, and rump giving it an armored-like appearance. The Javan rhino's body length reaches up to 3.1-3.2 m (10-10.5 feet), including its head and a height of 1.5–1.7 m (4.9-5.6ft)tall. Adults are variously reported to weigh between 900–1,400 kg
[15] or 1,360-2,000 kg.
[16] Horns of males can reach 26 cm in length while in females they are knobs or no horn at all.
[
]
Sumatran Rhinoceros
thumb
The Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis
) is the smallest extant rhinoceros species, as well as the one with the most fur, which allows it to survive at very high altitudes in Borneo and Sumatra. Due to habitat loss and poaching, its numbers have declined and it is one of the world's rarest mammals. About 275 Sumatran Rhinos are believed to remain.
Typically a mature Sumatran rhino stands about 130 cm (4.3ft) high at the shoulder, a body length of 240–315 cm (7.9ft - 10.3ft) and weighs around 700 kg (1543 lbs), though the largest individuals have been known to weigh as much as 1,000 kilograms. Like the African species, it has two horns; the largest is the front (25–79 cm) and the smaller being the second, which is usually less than 10 cm long. The males have much larger horns than the females. Hair can range from dense (the most dense hair in young calves) to scarce. The color of these rhinos is reddish brown. The body is short and has stubby legs. They also have a prehensile lip.
Evolution
Rhinocerotoids diverged from other perissodactyls by the early Eocene. Fossils of Hyrachyus eximus
found in North America date to this period. This small hornless ancestor resembled a tapir or small horse more than a rhino. Three families, sometimes grouped together as the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea, evolved in the late Eocene: Hyracodontidae, Amynodontidae and Rhinocerotidae.
Hyracodontidae, also known as "running rhinos," showed adaptations for speed, and would have looked more like horses than modern rhinos. The smallest hyracodontids were dog-sized; the largest was Indricotherium
, believed to be one of the largest land mammals that ever existed. The hornless Indricotherium
was almost seven meters high, ten meters long, and weighed as much as 15 tons. Like a giraffe, it ate leaves from trees. The Hyracodontids spread across Eurasia from the mid-Eocene to early Miocene.
The family Amynodontidae, also known as "aquatic rhinos," dispersed across North America and Eurasia, from the late Eocene to early Oligocene. The amynodontids were hippopotamus-like in their ecology and appearance, inhabiting rivers and lakes, and sharing many of the same adaptations to aquatic life as hippos.
The family of all the modern rhinoceroses, the Rhinocerotidae, first appeared in the Late Eocene in Eurasia. The earliest members of Rhinocerotidae were small and numerous; at least 26 genera lived in Eurasia and North America until a wave of extinctions in the middle Oligocene wiped out most of the smaller species. Several independent lineages survived, however. Menoceras, a pig-sized rhinoceros which had two horns side-by-side or the Teleoceras of North America which had short legs and a barrel chest and lived until about 5 million years ago. The last rhinos in America became extinct during the Pliocene.
Modern rhinos are believed to have dispersed from Asia beginning in the Miocene. Two species survived the most recent period of glaciation and inhabited Europe as recently as 10,000 years ago. The woolly rhinoceros appeared in China around 1 million years ago and first arrived in Europe around 600,000 years ago and again 200,000 years ago, where alongside the woolly mammoth, they became numerous but eventually were hunted to extinction by early humans. Another species of enormous rhino, Elasmotherium
, survived the last ice age. Also known as the giant rhinoceros, Elasmotherium
was two meters tall, five meters long and weighed around five tons, with a single enormous horn, hypsodont teeth and long legs for running.
Of the extant rhinoceros species, the Sumatran Rhino is the most archaic, first emerging more than 15 million years ago. The Sumatra Rhino was closely related to the woolly rhinoceros, but not to the other modern species. The Indian Rhino and Javan Rhino are closely related and from a more recent lineage of Asian rhino. The ancestors of early Indian and Javan rhino emerged 2-4 million years ago. [17]
The origin of the two living African rhinos can be traced back to the late Miocene ( {{#ifeq:) species Ceratotherium neumayri
. The lineages containing the living species diverged by the early Pliocene ( {{#ifeq:), when Diceros praecox
, the likely ancestor of the Black Rhinoceros, appears in the fossil record. [18] The black and white rhinoceros remain so closely related that they can still mate and successfully produce offspring.
thumb
thumb
- Family Rhinocerotidae
[19]
- *Subfamily Rhinocerotinae
- **Tribe Aceratheriini
- ***†Aceratherium
lived from 33.9—3.4 Ma
- ***†Acerorhinus
13.6—7.0 Ma
- ***†Alicornops
13.7—5.33 Ma
- ***†Aphelops
20.430—5.330 Ma
- ***†Chilotheridium
23.03—11.610 Ma
- ***†Chilotherium
13.7—3.4 Ma
- ***†Dromoceratherium
15.97—7.25 Ma
- ***†Floridaceras
20.43—16.3 Ma
- ***†Hoploaceratherium
16.9—16.0 Ma
- ***†Mesaceratherium
- ***†Peraceras
20.6—10.3 Ma
- ***†Plesiaceratherium
20.0—11.6 Ma
- ***†Proaceratherium
16.9—16.0 Ma
- ***†Sinorhinus
- ***†Subchilotherium
- **Tribe Teleoceratini
- ***†Aprotodon
28.4—5.330 Ma
- ***†Brachydiceratherium
- ***†Brachypodella
- ***†Brachypotherium
20.0—5.33 Ma
- ***†Diaceratherium
28.4—16.0 Ma
- ***†Prosantorhinus
16.9—7.25 Ma
- ***†Shennongtherium
- ***†Teleoceras
16.9—4.9 Ma
- **Tribe Rhinocerotini
40.4—11.1 Ma
- ***†Gaindatherium
11.61—11.1 Ma
- ***Rhinoceros
- Indian & Javan Rhinoceros
- **Tribe Dicerorhinini
5.330—0.011 Ma
- ***†Coelodonta
- Woolly Rhinoceros
- ***Dicerorhinus
- Sumatran Rhinoceros 23.030—0.110 Ma
- ***†Dihoplus
11.610—1.810 Ma
- ***†Lartetotherium
15.97—8.7 Ma
- ***†Stephanorhinus
9.7—0.126 Ma
- **Tribe Dicerotini
23.03—Present
- ***Ceratotherium
- White Rhinoceros 7.250—Present
- ***Diceros
- Black Rhinoceros 23.03—Present
- ***†Paradiceros
15.97—11.61 Ma
- *Subfamily Elasmotheriinae
- **†Gulfoceras
23.030—20.430 Ma
- **Tribe Diceratheriini
- ***†Diceratherium
33.9—11.610 Ma
- ***†Subhyracodon
38.0—26.3 Ma
- **Tribe Elasmotheriini
20.0—0.126 Ma
- ***†Bugtirhinus
20.0—16.9 Ma
- ***†Caementodon
- ***†Elasmotherium
- Giant Rhinoceros 3.6—0.126 Ma
- ***†Hispanotherium
synonymized with Huaqingtherium
16.0—7.250 Ma
- ***†Iranotherium
- ***†Kenyatherium
- ***†Meninatherium
- ***†Menoceras
23.03—16.3 Ma
- ***†Ougandatherium
20.0—16.9 Ma
- ***†Parelasmotherium
- ***†Procoelodonta
- ***†Sinotherium
9.0—5.3 Ma
Predators
In the wild, the adult black or white rhino has no natural predators other than humans but, although it is of massive size and has a reputation of being tough, it is actually very easy to be poached. While visiting water holes daily the rhinoceros is easily killed while taking a drink. As the rhinoceros population is constantly decreasing, efforts are being made to stop the poaching of the rhinos.
Horns
The most obvious distinguishing characteristic of the rhinos is a large horn above the nose. Rhinoceros horns, unlike those of other horned mammals, consist of keratin only and lack a bony core, such as bovine horns. Rhinoceros horns are used in traditional Asian medicine, and for dagger handles in Yemen and Oman.
One repeated misconception is that rhinoceros horn in powdered form is used as an aphrodisiac in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is, in fact, prescribed for fevers and convulsions. [20] Discussions with TCM practitioners to reduce its use have met with mixed results since some TCM doctors mistakenly see rhinoceros horn as a life-saving medicine of better quality than substitutes. [21] China has signed the CITES treaty however. To prevent poaching, in certain areas, rhinos have been tranquilized and their horns removed. Many rhino range States have stockpiles of rhino horn, which needs to be carefully managed. [22]
thumb in Villa Romana del Casale, an archeological site near Piazza Armerina in Sicily, Italy
Historical representations
Albrecht Dürer created a famous woodcut of a rhinoceros in 1515, based on a written description and brief sketch by an unknown artist of an Indian rhinoceros that had arrived in Lisbon earlier that year. Dürer never saw the animal itself, and as a result, Dürer's Rhinoceros is a somewhat inaccurate depiction.
There are legends about rhinoceros stamping out fire in Malaysia, India, and Burma. The mythical rhinoceros has a special name in Malay, badak api
, where badak
means rhinoceros and api
means fire. The animal would come when a fire is lit in the forest and stamp it out. [23] There are no recent confirmations of this phenomenon.
However, this legend has been reinforced by the film The Gods Must Be Crazy
, where an African rhinoceros is shown to be putting out two campfires. [24]
The horns are made up of small heavily compacted hairs and not a solid bony structure as many believe.[who?]
Footnotes
- White Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros Profile, Facts, Information, Photos, Pictures, Sounds, Habitats, Reports, News - National Geographic
- White Rhino (Ceratotherum simum)
- The Encyclopedia of Mammals
- What is a rhinoceros horn made of?
- San Diego Zoo
- Why the name of the white rhinoceros is not appropriate
- Rabinowitz, Alan (June 1995) "Helping a Species Go Extinct: The''<33 six.'' Sumatran Rhino in Borneo" ''Conservation Biology'' 9(3): pp. 482-488
- Interspecific hybridization in rhinoceroses: Confirmation of a Black × White rhinoceros hybrid by karyotype, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and microsatellite analysis
- Times Online | News | Environment | Poachers kill last four wild northern white rhinos
- African Rhinoceros
- West African black rhino 'is extinct'
- Black Rhinoceros
- Assam rhino poaching 'spirals'
- Racing to Know the Rarest of Rhinos, Before It’s Too Late
- Species Endangered: Javan Rhinoceros
- Rhino Guide: Javan Rhinoceros
- Save the rhinos: EAZA Rhino Campaign 2005/6
- Pliocene Rhinocerotidae (Mammalia) from Hadar and Dikika (Lower Awash, Ethiopia), and a revision of the origin of modern African rhinos
- Mikko's Phylogeny Archive entry on "Rhinoceratidae"
- ''Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, Third Edition,'' by Dan Bensky, Steven Clavey, Erich Stoger, and Andrew Gamble. September 2004
- Can we tame wild medicine? To save a rare species, Western conservationists may have to make their peace with traditional Chinese medicine.
- Milledge, Simon. {{PDFlink|Rhino Horn Stockpile|1.34 MB}}, TRAFFIC, 2005. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
- Rhinoceros Frequently Asked Questions
- ''The Gods Must Be Crazy'', James Uys, C.A.T. Films, 1980.
References
- White Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros Profile, Facts, Information, Photos, Pictures, Sounds, Habitats, Reports, News - National Geographic
- White Rhino (Ceratotherum simum)
- The Encyclopedia of Mammals
- What is a rhinoceros horn made of?
- San Diego Zoo
- Why the name of the white rhinoceros is not appropriate
- Rabinowitz, Alan (June 1995) "Helping a Species Go Extinct: The''<33 six.'' Sumatran Rhino in Borneo" ''Conservation Biology'' 9(3): pp. 482-488
- Interspecific hybridization in rhinoceroses: Confirmation of a Black × White rhinoceros hybrid by karyotype, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and microsatellite analysis
- Times Online | News | Environment | Poachers kill last four wild northern white rhinos
- African Rhinoceros
- West African black rhino 'is extinct'
- Black Rhinoceros
- Assam rhino poaching 'spirals'
- Racing to Know the Rarest of Rhinos, Before It’s Too Late
- Species Endangered: Javan Rhinoceros
- Rhino Guide: Javan Rhinoceros
- Save the rhinos: EAZA Rhino Campaign 2005/6
- Pliocene Rhinocerotidae (Mammalia) from Hadar and Dikika (Lower Awash, Ethiopia), and a revision of the origin of modern African rhinos
- Mikko's Phylogeny Archive entry on "Rhinoceratidae"
- ''Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, Third Edition,'' by Dan Bensky, Steven Clavey, Erich Stoger, and Andrew Gamble. September 2004
- Can we tame wild medicine? To save a rare species, Western conservationists may have to make their peace with traditional Chinese medicine.
- Milledge, Simon. {{PDFlink|Rhino Horn Stockpile|1.34 MB}}, TRAFFIC, 2005. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
- Rhinoceros Frequently Asked Questions
- ''The Gods Must Be Crazy'', James Uys, C.A.T. Films, 1980.