The white rhinoceros is the largest of the five rhino species weighing a bit more than a hippopotamus.
The white rhino is known for its short neck and broad chest.
Let's learn interesting facts about them.
There are two subspecies of the white rhinoceros:
Southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum)
It's estimated that there are about 20,000 wild southern white rhinos today,
which makes them the most abundant species of rhino.
Northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni)
sadly, there are only two rhinos left, both female,
being kept in captivity and protected very strictly by armed force.
Basically this subspecies will soon become extinct.
White Rhinos Aren't White
A common misconception about rhinos is that white rhinos are white
and black rhinoceroses are black.
Actually, the word “white” is merely a mispronunciation by English settlers in South Africa
of a Dutch word, “wijd,” or wide.
The white rhinoceros was described as “wijd”
because it has wider lips than the black rhino with its prehensile upper lip.
The black rhino gets its name because it's usually seen covered in mud.
White Rhinos Are Very Social
While all rhinos are social, this is especially true with white rhinos.
White rhinos live in herds (or crashes) of up to 14.
These herds are mostly made up of females.
Younger males do congregate together along with an adult female while adult bulls live alone.
White Rhinos Are the Largest Rhino Species
Males can be up to 5 meters (13 feet) long while females can reach 3.6 meters (12 feet) long,
not including the tail. When standing, the rhino is about 6 feet tall.
Males tend to be heavier at 2,300 kg (5,070 pounds)
compared to 1,700 kg (3,750 pounds) with females.
They are slightly larger than the one-horned Indian rhinoceros.
Humans Are the Only Threat to White Rhinos
An adult white rhino has no natural predators given their size, horns, and thick skin,
although humans have been a major threat.
Poaching has threatened rhino populations for more than 400 years,
although the rise of sport hunting in the 19th century nearly drove the white rhinos to extinction.
Anti-poaching laws in Nepal and India helped with remaining white rhinos relocated to reserves.
Despite absolutely no scientific evidence,
rhino horns have long been prized for their use in traditional Asian medicine.
It's claimed that powdered rhino horn can cure a variety of health problems.
This demand has led organized international poaching syndicates to carry out missions
that even use advanced technology like night vision scopes and helicopters.
Today, much of the demand comes from Thailand and China.
A white rhino horn can sell for up to $3,000 on the black market in South Africa.
Before the 1800's, South Africa was home to hundreds of thousands of rhinos.
Today, it is home to 70% of just 29,000 remaining on earth.
A Rhino's Horn Can Grow Back
Rhino horns are not made of bone like cattle.
Their horns are made from keratin,
the same protein that makes up human fingernails and hair.
While poachers have nearly driven rhinos to extinction to kill them for their horns,
rhino horns can actually be trimmed off safely and grow back
without harming the animal, much like trimming fingernails.
In fact, South African rhino farmers do just that.
Every year or so, farmers tranquilize the animals, cut off up to 4 pounds of horn from every rhino,
and store it in a vault in hopes that it will be legal to sell one day.
Rhinos Can't See Well
White rhinos have very poor eyesight
which may be one reason they sometimes charge for no apparent reason.
To make up for this, the white rhinoceros has excellent hearing and smell.
A rhino's retina should be able to detect and recognize a human form at about 200 meters.
White Rhinos Are Fearsome Herbivores
Despite its large size and dangerous horns, the white rhinoceros is an herbivore.
White rhinoceroses enjoy living in open savanna and grassland.
The white rhino is one of the largest pure grazers on earth,
eating nothing but grass, especially short grains.
When available, a rhino will drink twice a day but can go up to five days without water during drought.
The white rhinoceros must eat up to 120 pounds of grass daily.
This usually means almost non-stop eating to support its large size.
Because the rhino has no natural predators, it tends to eat slowly without fear.
The black rhino, in comparison, eats a wide variety of plant life, including leaves and fruits.
Black rhinos eat about 200 plant species in the wild.
This massive amount of food comes at a stinky price.
An adult white rhinoceros can produce up to 50 pounds of dung every single day.
The Rhino is Related to the Woolly Mammoth
The modern rhinoceros is related to the woolly mammoth that lived during the ice age.
During this time, a species called the woolly rhinoceros lived alongside woolly mammoths.
These rhinos are believed to have had the largest range of any rhino species that has ever lived.
The woolly rhino, which went extinct 10,000 years ago,
was also an herbivore that grazed on lichen and grass.
Interestingly, a fossilized skull found in a city in southern Austria around 1500
was believed to be that of a dragon.
A statue was built of a large dragon with bat-like wings and a body like a crocodile.
Sculptures used the skull they found as the model for the statue.
Recent testing determined that the skull actually belonged to a woolly rhinoceros.
Closely related to the white rhinoceroses today are zebras, horses, and tapirs
not elephants.
White Rhino Sounds
They will utter a wide variety of sounds such as snorts, grunts, bellows, squeals, and growls.
The white rhino’s scientific name is Ceratotherium simun.
The word “Ceratotherium” is derived from the Greek words for “horn” and “beast”
while “simun” is for Greek for flat nose.
As their signature feature, the scientific name of every rhino species references their “horn.”
However, the white rhino is the only species whose scientific name references a flat nose.
White Rhino Predators
As the largest of the rhino species white rhinos face few predators.
As adolescents they face threats from lions, crocodiles,
and other large carnivores like big cats, hyenas, and wild dogs.
Once grown to full size, white rhinos face few threats from predators.
The species not only possesses long horns and high top speeds,
but also has thick skin that serves as a form of “natural body armor.”
This provides an additional form of protection from larger predators like lions.
The top predator of rhinos remains humans.
Poaching deaths in South Africa reached a peak of 1,215 rhinos in 2014
and have since fallen, but remain substantially higher than last decades.
Most rhinos live on either private reserves or natural parks
where they’re actively protected by armed guards and security.
White Rhino Top Speed
For such a large species, the white rhino has incredible acceleration
and can reach speeds that exceed 30 miles per hour (about 48 kilometers per hour).
For comparison, the world’s fastest recorded human was Usain Bolt, who hit 27 miles per hour!
The top speed of white rhinos also exceeds that of other large African land mammals
such as elephants or hippos.
Why do rhinos charge? The species has evolved excellent hearing and smell,
but its vision is reportedly very poor and near-sighted.
Charging allows rhinos to defend themselves against unfamiliar objects.
It can be very common from mothers defending calves, and males defending their territory.
Under the hot African sun, white rhinos take cover by lying in the shade.
Rhinos are also wallowers. They find a suitable water hole and roll in its mud,
coating their skin with a natural bug repellent and sunblock.
Rhinos have sharp hearing and a keen sense of smell.
They may find one another by following the trail of scent
each enormous animal leaves behind it on the landscape.
Scent-marking
as with other rhino species,
white rhino home ranges are scent-posted with dung heaps used by both sexes.
The collective dung heaps, or middens, are usually located at territory boundaries
and serve as the communication and marking points.
All animals add their deposits there,
but only territorial males scatter the dung with ritualised kicks and spray urine.
Marking by urine spraying is mostly displayed along territorial boundaries.
Mating and courtship
when the urine test (sensed through scent glands) reveals a cow approaching oestrus,
the territorial bull will join the female for up to 20 days.
He at first accompanies the female by keeping a fair distance,
until she comes into full oestrus and allows him to approach.
The courtship lasts up to a day,
characterised by the male resting his chin on the female’s rump and attempted mounting.
Finally, the cow will stand still, with tail curled, and allow copulation.
Mating is remarkably prolonged, lasting from 20 minutes to one hour.
Grazing in the grass
White rhinos live in the grasslands of southern Africa,
where the weather is warm and there is an average of 27 inches of rainfall each year.
They spend up to 10 hours a day eating grass,
to get enough nutrients to feed their large bodies.
That's the end of my clip.
Thanks for watching, see you again.