Basic Facts

----of the RHINOCEROS

 Status--endangered
Since 1970 the world rhino population has 11,000 rhinos left in the wild
declined by 90 percent, with five species
remaining in the world today, all of which are
endangered. The rate of their decline is
truly astounding: in the
decade of the 1970s alone,
An extinct species of rhino that lived in
half the world's rhino
Mongolia, (Baluchitherium grangeri), was the
population disappeared.
largest land mammal of all time. This hornless
Today, less than 15 per cent
rhinoceros stood 18 feet (five and one-half
of the 1970 population
meters) at the shoulder, was 27 feet (eight
remains, an estimated
meters) long, and probably weighed 25 tons
10,000 to 11,000 worldwide.
(23 metric tons), four times as much as today's
African bull elephant. Climate change?

There currently are only 3,100 black, 11,700 white, 2,400 Indian, 300 Sumatran,
and 60 Javan rhinos living in the wild, with a global captive population of about
1,200 (250 black, 780 white, 140 Indian, 15 Sumatran).
 Status--endangered
There are four subspecies of the critically
endangered black rhino, eastern,
southwestern, southern central and western.
The western subspecies is thought to be
extinct.
 History
inhabited the Earth for 60 million years

Rhinos have existed on Earth for more than 50

million years, at one time constituting a
diverse array of species that lived throughout
North America and Europe as well as in Africa
and Asia.

Rhinos once roamed throughout Eurasia and

Africa, and were known to early Europeans
who depicted them in cave paintings.
 Lifespan
Biologists estimate that wild rhinos live up to
35 years. In captivity, a rhino may live 40 years.
 Basic Features
Rhinos are also rather ill-tempered and have
become more so in areas where they have
been constantly disturbed. While their
eyesight is poor, which is why they will often
charge without apparent reason, their sense of
smell and hearing are very good.
Dung deposited by rhinos marks their territory.
During the day the species may rest several
kilometers from their waterholes under dense
cover, and only in the evening, through the
night, and in the early morning do they
become active. Rhinos are known to sleep
both standing and lying on the ground and are
fond of wallowing in muddy pools and sandy
river-beds.
Rhinoceroses are universally
recognized because of their
massive bodies, stumpy legs and
either one or two dermal horns.
In some species, these may be
short or altogether not obvious.
“Vocabulary" of growls, grunts,
squeaks, snorts and bellows.
On the rhino's foot are three
stubby toes. As it walks , only
two of the three toes function
right. Its bland gray skin
camouflages it on stones and on
some glimmering water.
 Size
The white rhino is the second largest land
mammal next to the elephant. The five species
range in weight from 750 pounds to 8,000
pounds and stand anywhere from four and a
half to six feet tall.

The Indian Rhinoceros—

over 1.8m
The White Rhinoceros—
1.8m
The Black Rhinoceros—over
1.5m
The Javan Rhinoceros—1.5m
The Sumatran Rhinoceros—
1.4m
 Population
Rhino (Diceros bicornis): 2,400
White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum): 7,500
Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis): 400
Javan Rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus): fewer than 100
Indian Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis): more than 2,000

Today however, very few rhinos now survive

outside national parks and reserves.
 Habitat
Rhino habitat ranges from savannas to dense
forests in tropical and subtropical regions.

Southern Africa, Central Africa, Eastern Africa,

Western Africa, South Asia, South East Asia

Biogeographic realm
Afro-tropical, Indo-Malayan
 Food
Rhinos are herbivores, meaning they eat only never touch meat
plants. White rhinos, with their square-shaped
lips, are ideally suited to graze on grass. Other
rhinos prefer to eat the foliage of trees or Biggest mammal on land
bushes. except for the elephant.
 Behavior
Rhinos use their horns not only in battle for
territory or for females, they also use it to
defend themselves from lions, tigers and
hyenas.
The rhino has no sweat
glands, so it keeps cool by
rolling in different liquids.

When attacking, the rhino lowers its head,

snorts, breaks into a gallop reaching speeds of
30 miles an hour, and gores or strikes powerful
blows with its horns. Still, for all its bulk, the
rhino is very agile and can quickly turn in a
small space.

Even though they travel, they try to drink from

the same pond and water source.
 Breeding
Males and females frequently fight during
courtship, sometimes leading to serious
wounds inflicted by their horns. After mating,
the pair go their separate ways. A calf is born
14 to 18 months later. Although they nurse for
a year, calves are able to begin eating
vegetation one week after birth.
 “Enemies”
Humans. Man is the cause of the demise of the
rhino. In the wild, the adult black or white
rhino has no true natural predators and,
despite its size and antagonistic reputation, it
is extremely easy for man to kill. A creature of
habit that lives in a well-defined home range, it
usually goes to water holes daily, where it is
easily ambushed. The dramatic decline in rhino
is unfortunate in an era of increasing
conservation but efforts are underway to save
the rhino from extinction.
Its ancestors, like the Great horned rhino, lived
on this land with the dinosaurs.
Even though the rhino is feared, it has
few predators who try to feed on it. A
lot of the time, tigers will sneak up on
one of the young and try to capture it.
If the mother rhino sees this, she will
slash her horn at him.
The rhinos are also being killed by
some members of the cat family such
as tigers and cheetahs. These cats
prey on the young, rather than the
mother of father. Pollution such as
toxic waste and pesticide are on the
grass, and when the rhinos eat grass,
they die. The population is declining
because of humans.
 Value
Valued for their horns, they face a serious The result was a seven-fold
threat from poaching. Some cultures believe increase in the per capita
that the powdered rhino horn will cure income in Yemen, a rise in
everything from fever to food poisoning and wealth that made rhino horn
will enhance sexual stamina. dagger handles within the
reach of almost everyone. This
small country, with a
Unlike most large mammals, habitat loss has
population of 6 million at the
not been a significant factor in the decline of
time, suddenly became the
rhinos. Rather, poaching for their horn has
world's largest importer of
decimated rhino populations.
rhino horn.

It was not until the 1970s that rhinos declined dramatically, due to a surprising
cause: the soaring price of oil. Young men in the Arab country of Yemen covet rhino
horn for elaborately-carved dagger handles, symbols of wealth and status in that
country. Until the 1970s, few men could afford these prized dagger handles. But
Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries are rich in oil, and prices for this "black
gold" climbed dramatically in that decade due to a worldwide oil shortage.
 Value
The value of rhino horn made it enormously Rhino horn is so valuable though,
profitable to poach rhinos and sell them on the that poachers have killed guards
black market. For example, in 1990, the two to get at the rhino.
horns from a single black rhino brought as
much as $50,000. Just like poaching for
elephant ivory, poaching for rhino horn is
simply too profitable for many subsistence
farmers and herders to resist.

The rhino's plight has become so desperate

that in some places conservation officials
tranquilize rhinos and saw off their horns so
poachers will have no cause to kill them. It is
not known whether removing the horn impairs
the rhino's ability to survive or reproduce.
 Methods Taken for Protection
Some researchers are studying rhinos to see Protection of elephant habitat
how humans can increase the population of was not enough. Rhinos were
these rhinos. killed in protected areas because
governments could not afford to
patrol the parks to stop
All trade in rhino horn is prohibited, since
poachers.
rhinos are protected under Appendix I of
CITES. The ban on trade in rhino horns has not
been very successful, however. A thriving black
market in rhino horn has continued. In the white rhinoceros,
subfertility (lack of normal
In 1993, the United States threatened to ban reproductive cyclicity, mate
legal imports of wildlife from China, which has incompatibility, conception
a large wildlife trade with the United States, if failure and pregnancy loss) is a
China did not start taking measures to stop major challenge.
illegal wildlife trade. In response, China made
it illegal to sell, buy, trade, or transport rhino
horns and tiger bones. Illegal stockpiles of
rhino horns and tiger bones remain, however.
 Methods Taken for Protection
Captive black rhinoceroses (unlike their free-
ranging counterparts or the captive white
rhino) develop unusual diseases that adversely
effect animal health.

In all species of rhino, high stillbirth rates

continue to plague our ability to propagate
these species.
 “Tidbits”
The rhino has a symbiotic relationship with ox
peckers [cattle egret?], also called tick birds. In
Swahili the tick bird is named "askari wa
kifaru," meaning "the rhino's guard." The bird
eats ticks it finds on the rhino and noisily
warns of danger. Although the birds also eat
blood from sores on the rhino's skin and thus
obstruct healing, they are still tolerated
People thought that the rhinos horn is made of
ivory, but it is isn't. In fact, the horn is made of
packed together strands of hair called keratin.
May be the source of the belief in
unicorns, legendary animals
whose horn was said to be a
panacea for all types of ailments.
In 1298, the Venetian explorer
Marco Polo described Sumatran
rhinos as unicorns saying:
“There are wild elephants in the
country, and numerous unicorns,
which are very nearly as big. They
have hair like that of a buffalo,
feet like those of an elephant,
and a horn in the middle of the
forehead, which is black and very
thick.”
 “Tidbits”
As early as the 5th century B.C., rhino horn
was believed capable of rendering some
poisons harmless. In Borneo, people used to
hang a rhino's tail in a room where a woman
was giving birth, believing it would ease labor
pains. Asians used rhino horn in traditional
medicines for a thousand years without
threatening the species' survival.

Egrets and other birds can be found with

rhinos, feeding on the species external
parasites.
Key
http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/rhinoce http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/r
ros.html hinoceros/rhinos.html

http://www.sa- http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/profile/spec
venues.com/wildlife/wildlife_rhino.htm iesProfile.action?spcode=A025

http://neyture.info/teachered/endanger/reporhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros
ts/mammals/rhino/rhino.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rhinosizes.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd-toed_ungulate

http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/van_ani
m_rhino.htm

http://members.tripod.com/~james6/ezoo/rhi
m.html

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScie
nce/ReproductiveScience/Rhinos.cfm