Black Rhinoceros
Black Rhinoceros
Black Rhino, Hook-Lipped Rhinoceros
Diceros bicornis
Rhinocerotidae
The Black Rhinoceros is a large, broad, heavy set four-legged browsing animal of the African bush. It has two keratinised horns on the skull, the longer at the front, used for digging and breaking up vegetation for feeding, or for aggression or defence. It has a long hooked "prehensile" lip which it uses to help pulling leaves off branches and shrubs whilst browsing. It has tough, thick usually grey coloured skin.
The Black Rhinoceros grows up to 140-180cm tall and up to 3 - 3.75m long, typically weighing up to 800 - 1400kg, but individuals up to 2,900kg have been reported.
The Black Rhinoceros is smaller than the White Rhinoceros and its most clearly differentiating characteristic is its long 'hooked' lip which it uses for browsing (as opposed to the shorter flat/square-shaped lip of the White Rhinoceros). The Black Rhinoceros also have a smaller head and smaller hump behind the neck than the White Rhinoceros.
The ancestors of the Rhinoceros existed on Earth fifty million years ago. Apart from the bond between mother and calf, the Black Rhinoceros its generally thought to be solitary although there is evidence of the species congregating in groups in certain circumstances. The Black Rhinoceros is known to at times be very aggressive and will charge at threats. Because of their size, aggressive nature and thick skin, the adult rhinoceros usually has no natural predators. The Black Rhinoceros can run at speeds of up to 55km per hour.
The Black Rhinoceros is a browsing animal that prefers grasslands, bush and savannahs of Eastern and Southern Africa
The Black Rhinoceros is a herbivore, and browses on bushes, fruit, shrubs, branches and leaves.
Male and Female Black Rhinoceros come together only to mate, and the gestation period for a single calf of 35-50kg is 15 months. Calves stay with their mother for 2-3 years until the next calf arrives. Maturity is reached at 5-8 years of age.
Whilst the range of the Black Rhinoceros was once through much of eastern and southern Africa, the species is now confined to scattered populations in small areas of national park and reserved land in Southern and Eastern Africa
Critically Endangered
The major threats to the survival of the black Rhinoceros are illegal poaching and habitat disturbance and loss
The most common sounds of the Black Rhinoceros are sniffing and snorting, and they commonly use sent marking to identify themselves to other Rhinoceros. The ears of the Black Rhinoceros can rotate in all directions giving them a keen sense of hearing
The Black Rhinoceros can be seen in a number of National Parks and Reserves in parts of Southern and Eastern Africa, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Botswana.
The Black Rhinoceros was once the most plentiful of all planet Earth's Rhinoceros species, with an estimated several hundred thousand living across Africa. Hunting, poaching, and destruction of habitat through the 20th century brought this population to as low as 2,400 by 2004, with a slow recovery in the population since to approximately 5,500 now.
Crucial to the long-term survival of the Black Rhinoceros is the clamping down of the illegal poaching trade, the protection and expansion of protected National Parks & Reserves in the Black Rhinoceros' natural range, and the thoughtful reintroduction of the species to areas in its former range where it has been lost.
Localised efforts to protect groups of the Black Rhinoceros from poachers include armed guards and other measures to protect the animal from poaching.
Efforts to conserve the Black Rhinoceros include but are not limited to:
International Rhino Foundation
Save the Rhino International
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