WESTERN BLACK RHINOCEROS GENUS SKIN

Both the black and white rhino have two horns, the longer of which sits at the front of the nose. The Black Rhino: The black, or hooked-lipped rhino, along with all other rhino species, is an odd-toed ungulate (three toes on each foot). Did you know? According to the AWF, the black rhino population is down 97.6% since 1960. The white rhino, which is actually grey, has a pronounced hump on the neck and a long face. The White Rhino: The white rhino's name derives from the Dutch 'weit,' meaning wide, a reference to its wide, square muzzle adapted for grazing. White Rhinoceros - Ceratotherium simum Interesting Fact This population has been threatened by political conflict and instability. The northern white rhino has recovered in Democratic Republic of Congo from about 15 in 1984 to about 30 in the late 1990s. The southern dwindled almost to extinction in the early 20th century, but was protected on farms and reserves, enabling it to increase enough to be reintroduced. It in turn occurs as two subspecies, the southern and the northern. The white or square-lipped rhino is one of two rhino species in Africa.

WESTERN BLACK RHINOCEROS GENUS SKIN

Although the birds also eat blood from sores on the rhino's skin and thus obstruct healing, they are still tolerated. In Swahili the tick bird is named 'askari wa kifaru,' meaning 'the rhino's guard.' The bird eats ticks it finds on the rhino and noisily warns of danger. Did you know? The rhinoceros has a symbiotic relationship with oxpeckers, also called tick birds. Since 1970 the world rhino population has declined by 90 percent, with five species remaining in the world today, all of which are endangered. In recent decades rhinos have been relentlessly hunted to the point of near extinction. The rhinoceros is a large, primitive looking mammal that dates from the Miocene era millions of years ago.

Western black rhinoceros genus