![]() When, eventually, my thoughts had cleared (and my knees had stopped shaking), I was filled with a profound sense of respect for the wild, her creatures and the little black rhino cow, later known as Elizabeth, so determined to assert herself. Certainly, more than I was capable of at that moment. She whirled around in a cloud of dust less than two metres from us, turning in an impossibly tight circle, and trotting off with a surprising amount of dignity. One cliché did hold, however, and time seemed to slow as I become aware of every huff of her breath and the movement of her feet and, at what seemed like the last second, the way she dropped her head…Īnd then it was over. ![]() If clichés are to be believed, my life should then have flashed before my eyes, but I felt only an unreasonable bitterness directed at the useless bushwillow. Then suddenly she was charging, closing the gap at an alarming pace. A quick assessment of my immediate surroundings showed a raisin bush to my left and a bushwillow sapling the width of my wrist to my right. She took one step in our direction, then another. Aided by an exceptional sense of smell and hearing, she was no longer confused, and her head was raised as she stared directly at us. While we were dawdling, she had circled to get a better measure of the situation and had clearly decided that we were unequivocally not to be trusted. We changed our trajectory to avoid her and set about circling back.Īs we stopped to record the coordinates of the next midden, she reappeared suddenly, again only 50m away but this time downwind of us. She stared myopically at the three guides standing upwind of her for a second or two before wheeling around and trotting off in the opposite direction, tailed curled characteristically over her back. I was crouched over a midden examining the freshness of the dung (very) when a soft snort drew our attention to the black rhino cow standing in a thicket some 50m away. If you thought this was interesting, maybe you’d like to find out more about the Brazilian Tapir! It might interest you.It started as a relatively innocuous morning spent recording midden positions for a research project, barely 200 metres from our vehicle. The important thing is to have water and plenty of food since they need large amounts of both to survive.īlack and white rhinos mainly live in savannahs, plains or forests, while Javan rhinos live in tropical rainforests and Indian rhinos live in areas of high grass, very close to rivers. They can live in savannahs or forests, whether tropical or subtropical. When it comes to their habitat, the rhino is very versatile. If the intruder wins, the ‘owner’ of the territory will stop marking it with his urine and feces and will assume a more subordinate position. Instead, they push each other with their horns until the other gives up. Their fights are relatively light and they don’t usually attack each other. When this confrontation happens, the same gestures are made over and over again until one of them gives up. Males, however, will fight with any animal who sets foot on their land. The exception is the Indian rhino, which responds aggressively to any encroachment on their territory. In fact, they tend to rub noses as a sign that they’re welcome. They normally stick to the same territory throughout their lives, which can range from two to 60 miles, and they mark their territory with feces and urine to remember them.įemales have fewer issues with territory and there is usually no rivalry between them. In some species, such as the white or Indian rhinos, there are exceptions where they form pairs which lead to larger groups later on. Adults only interact during the mating season. The rhinoceros is a solitary animal that only really likes to interact with their mother or young. Rhinos are perissodactyls, which means their middle finger is longer than normal, which is their main support, and two smaller fingers that give their footprint a tree shape. The latter weighs over 1,700 lb, while the white rhino can reach nearly 8,000 lb, making it the second-largest land animal in the world. The white rhino can measure between 95 and 124 inches in length, and the Sumatran rhino can measure from 132 to 165. However, their eyesight is quite poor, and instead, they have sharpened senses of smell and hearing. Their eyes are located on the side of their head and are lower down than the horn. Rhinos can generally live for around 60 years. The Sumatran rhino and both African species (the white and black rhino) have two horns, whilst the Indian and Javan rhino only have one. Unlike other animals with a similar feature, its horn doesn’t contain a bone nucleus but is made of keratin instead. As you can see, its name is a perfect fit, since its horn is undoubtedly what its most known for.
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