The White/Black Rhinoceros

The final member of the notorious Big Five is the white/black rhinoceros. This second biggest land animal on earth has been hunted even by early humans and they were depicted in paintings on cave walls in France 30,000 years ago!

Although at first glance, there don’t seem to be many differences between the white rhino and the black rhino, take a better a look and you will notice that the two have unique characteristics. The black rhino, also known as the hooked-lipped rhinoceros is native to eastern and central Africa. Black rhinos enjoy finding a convenient waterhole where they can roll around in its mud, coating their skin with a natural bug repellant and sunscreen.Perhaps this is something we could learn from these wallowers. If you’re alone at the beach and you can’t reach the middle of your back just stop, drop, and roll around in your sunscreen.

The rhinos thick skin apart from serving as armor protecting them from thorns and sharp grasses, is also a fine example of symbiosis. Their skin offers refuge to external parasites such as mites and ticks, which in turn are eaten by oxpeckers that like to perch on large mammals. Oxpeckers are also useful to rhinos because they tend to emit noise when they sense danger, almost resembling a personal alarm system. And considering that rhinos have very poor eyesight, these birds can come in very handy. Rhinos sometimes charge into trees or bushes when attempting to scare off intruders. Luckily rhinos are surprisingly fast, running up to 35 miles per hour and they can change direction almost instantaneously. So think twice before you laugh at this poor sighted giant for charging in the wrong direction, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

White rhinos live on Africa’s grassy plains and have a square upper lip as opposed to the pointed or hooked lip of the black rhinoceros. The reason behind this is of course the difference in their eating habits. Black rhinos use their lips to pluck leaves and fruit from branches while white rhinos keep their head closer to the ground and graze on grasses. In this case I think the black rhino has a more refined taste in food.

White rhinos are also said to be more sociable and less aggressive. The black rhino, although smaller in size, has been reported to attack without provocation. In fact black rhinos battle each other and have the highest rate of death among mammals in fights between the same species.

Rhinos are not very territorial and sometimes it is not clear where the territory of one rhino ends and the next begins. Still, I am sure they themselves know exactly where the border is because they leave large piles of dung as a means of communicating with each other. An odd habit perhaps, but very effective I’m sure. Rhinos have sharp hearing and a keen sense of smell which allows them to follow the scent of another rhino easily.

Leaving the best for last, the rhino horn is perhaps their most valuable asset which has unfortunately also led to their downfall. Horns are used for defense, scaring off intruders, and digging up roots and breaking branches during feeding. But this is not what makes them so significant. The prominent horn for which rhinos are so renowned for is highly desired for medicinal use, commonly used in Asian medicine to reduce fever. The horn is also valued in North Africa and the middle east as an ornamental dagger handle and many animals have been killed for the sole purpose of obtaining their horn.

Hunting this fast and sturdy creature requires a large caliber rifle with well-constructed bullets, and possibly a speedy get-away.

The Big Five. A highly desired, resilient member of the group.