White Rhinoceros

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The white rhinoceros or white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) is a species of perissodactyl mammal of the family Rhinocerotidae2 and the largest of the five species of rhinoceros that exist, the fourth largest land animal and the fourth heaviest land mammal after the three species of elephants. . It can reach 4.2 m in length, 1.85 m in height and up to four and a half tons in the largest specimens. It is one of two species of rhinoceros that live in the African savannah (the other is the black rhinoceros); both have two horns and this one is almost threatened; The black rhino is threatened by poaching.

Sudan, the last male specimen of the northern subspecies (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), died on March 20, 2018 in the reserve where he lived in Kenya, after being euthanized after several weeks of illness.

White rhinos are actually gray in color, a little lighter than black rhinos, so there are various theories that try to explain the origin of their common name.3 The best known suggests that when the first Dutch settlers arrived in present-day South Africa, in the 17th century, would have called this animal wijde ('broad') in reference to its straight and wide lip, quite different from the beaked lip of the other African rhinoceros. The British, who settled in Cape Town from 1806, mistakenly believed that what the Dutch said was white, an English word with a similar pronunciation. However, this seems to have no basis, and in fact the name could derive from the pale color of the first specimens that were described.3

Amongst the most charismatic and recognizable of Africa’s mega-fauna, the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is the largest of the five rhinoceros species and one of the world’s biggest land animals, only to elephants and hippos are bigger. Unlike its common name suggests, this enormous, virtually hairless mammal is not, in fact, white, but slate-blue to yellowish-brown in color. The ‘white’ likely comes from a mistranslation of the Afrikaner word for ‘wide’, referring to the animal’s wide mouth. Indeed, this species is often called the ‘square-lipped rhinoceros’ because of its broad, square, rather than the pointed, flexible upper lip, differentiating it from the Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis). The white rhinoceros can also be distinguished from its African cousin by its longer skull, less sharply defined forehead and more pronounced shoulder hump. Like the black rhinoceros and Sumatran rhinoceros, this species has two horns, the front being longer and averaging 60 cm in length, but occasionally reaching up to an enormous 1.5 m. The white rhinoceros also consists of two subspecies: the Southern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) and the much rarer Northern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni).

The wide and straight lip is due to the fact that this animal preferentially feeds on grasses that it collects from the ground, while the black rhinoceros feeds on bushy vegetation. Thanks to this, the two species of African rhinos, otherwise very similar in habits, can coexist in the same ecosystem. Mating does not occur at a specific time, and females give birth to a single offspring every four or five years, when the previous one has already matured.

The horn of rhinos is not a true horn like that of cows or bulls as it does not grow from the skull, nor a tusk, like that of hippopotamuses, elephants or wild boars as it does not grow from the mouth. It is a hardness in the area of the nose and is made up of keratin, the same material that forms nails and hair.4 Thus, if the horn breaks in a fight, it can regenerate, even growing 7 cm a year.

The northern subspecies (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), which lived exclusively in the Democratic Republic of the Congo within the Garamba National Park after its extinction in other areas such as Sudan, has almost disappeared, as a result of human harassment and war conflicts in the area. . This subspecies was classified as "critically endangered" (CR) by the IUCN.6 According to data from December 2014, five members of the subspecies were still alive, of which only one is male. In 2015, two females died, leaving only three members of the subspecies alive; The male was tightly guarded in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy park-reserve in Laikipia, Kenya, but due to old age he died on March 20, 2018, leaving only the two females.7

The southern subspecies (Ceratotherium simum simum) was classified as "near threatened" (NT) by the IUCN.8 According to 2011 data, after years of protection and relocations the species has increased to twenty thousand one hundred and fifty animals. in the wild, therefore increasing from the seventeen thousand five hundred counted in 2007.9 South Africa is home to most of the world's population, with 93% of the animals (sixteen thousand two hundred and fifty-five for 2007), although in 2010 Three hundred and thirty-three specimens have been counted dead due to poaching.1 Overall, the growth experienced by the species in recent years can be considered a great growth if we compare that at the beginning of the 20th century there were only about a thousand specimens left.

The white rhinoceros or square-jawed rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is, after the elephant, the largest of the land animals still existing in the world, along with the Indian rhinoceros, which is comparable in size, and some male specimens of some species of hippo. There are two subspecies of it; In 2005, South Africa was the largest natural habitat for the first of these, the southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum), with a population of 20,150, making the white rhino the most abundant rhino species in the world.

The white rhinoceros has a compact and large body, a proportionally larger head than other species, a short neck and a broader chest. It can exceed 3 tons, usually measures 3.35 to 4.2 m from head to tail, and measures between 150 and 185 cm at the withers. The largest specimen measured weighed about 3,600 kg. They have two horns on the snout; The front one is larger than the back one, and usually measures about 90 cm long, although it can reach 1.5 m in the largest specimens. The white rhinoceros has a kind of bulge on the nape of its neck that corresponds to the insertion of the ligament that supports the weight of its impressive head. The wide lips of the white rhinoceros allow it to bite large teeth into non-woody plants, thereby making up for its lack of incisors. They usually feed on short grass and bushes.

Despite their name, the skin color of white rhinos is actually primarily gray, in shades that can range from yellowish-brown to stone gray. The confusion in the name comes from a poor translation: as the first specimens were observed in South Africa, the original English name (white rhino) was taken from the Afrikaans name wyd, which does not actually mean "white", but "wide"; The shape of the mouth was the main way to distinguish it from the black rhinoceros, whose mouth is not wide and square, but narrow and beaked.