Facts about a Rhino : One of the big five animals and part of the Odd- toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae , A rhino can weigh over 3 tones, and did you know that there are 5 species of Rhino in the world? Comprising two African rhino species that is the black and White rhinos and the other three are the Asian rhino species that are excellent swimmers, crossing rivers with utmost ease unlike their African relatives who are poor swimmers, so mud works for them for cooling down. Composed of the greater one-horned, Sumatran and Javan rhinos. Black and white Rhinos are grey in reality. The white rhino derived its name from the African word ‘wyd’ meaning wide that the early explorers mistook for ‘white’.
Just like cattle; the male rhinos are called bulls and cows for the females whereas the young ones are identified as calves though unfortunately the young ones don’t get to spend sometime with their fathers since the females and males part ways after mating . The females considered to be more sociable than the territorial males. Together as a group, they are known as crash just like the way a group of fish is known as a school.
Being the second largest animal behind the elephant, the White rhino weighs almost 3500kg while the Sumatran stays the smallest of all rhinos with a 600kg weight which is astonishing since their diet is mainly grass and leaves and with developed teeth like the canines and incisors ,they are good to go into their feeding mode. Even if the black rhino has no flat incisor teeth; it heavily depends on its lips to bring food into its mouth. But for some Rhinos, their teeth are used for defense other than their keratined horns, Facts about a Rhino.
Rhinos are far more interesting than I thought, with a gestation period of about 15-16 months, there’s more amazing stuff about these mammals like they make a batch of funny noises while communicating among themselves, and during conflicts, they growl and initiate ‘trumpet calls’ while the black rhinos in specific snort when angry, sneeze like calls when scared and work when relaxed. Their poo and urine also play a big role in their communication because when they poo in the same place as others, this area is known as latrine to them and the scent of the poo and urine identifies the individuals and let’s them know who’s in the area since each rhino’s smell is its own unique identifier. An adult white rhino can produce about 50 pounds of dung per day and the dung produced by the young rhino has a different scent from that of the adult and their strong sense of smell is a great help in detecting a motionless person since they have a poor vision..
The same protein that runs through our hair and fingernails is also what makes up the rhino’s horn which is not attached to its skull. Javan and greater one-horned only exhibit one horn whereas the rest have two horns that grow continuously through out their lifetime, and a white rhino’s horn can grow 7cm every year and these very horns are believed to have special healing properties that’s why they are endangered species with Sumatran, Javan and black rhino listed as critically endangered , about only 76 Javan and between 34-47 sumatran rhinos left making almost threatened by extinction. The white rhino is nearly threatened while the greater one-horned is currently vulnerable, Facts about a Rhino
Their immense love for mud has benefitted them interms of cooling down, stop insect bites and remove any parasites.
Rhinos with their three toes in each foot can be located in so many places in Africa and Asia but the only one place you can find the Javan rhinos is the prestigious Ujung Kulon national park in the southwestern tip of the Indonesian; a home to the remaining Javan rhinos, Facts about a Rhino.
And what wraps up the day is that these peaceful and non violent creatures are celebrated on September 22 annually; a world Rhino day.
