White Rhinoceros White RhinocerosDescription
Class
Subclass
Order
Family
Genus
Species
StatusMammalia
Eupheria
Perissodactyla
Rhinocerotidae
Cerathotherium
simum
VulnerableThe barrel-like body sits on sturdy legs with five-toed hooves which have pliable sole pads. The head is long with small eyes and small, swivelling, funnel-shaped ears. The senses of smell and hearing are acute, but sight is relatively poor. There are two horns on the snout, the front one usually longer. The upper lip is very wide. The hips are shorter than the shoulders and the tail is tasselled. The skin is largely naked and light grey in colour but wallowing and dust baths cause the body to take on the colour of the soil (White comes from the Boer word 'widje' meaning 'wide', referring to the shape of the upper lip, not to the colour of the animal.)
Head and body length: 3.6m - 4.2m
Height 1.75m - 2.05m
Weight 3000 - 4000kgReproduction
Males mate with any oestrous female within their territory after a long courtship session. Mating lasts 20 to 30 minutes. The female bears a single calf, usually alone in a thicket. The calf suckles for at least one year but can eat grass at two months. The calf lives with the cow for 2 to 3 years until the next calf is born.
Sexual maturity:
Female: 4 - 5 years; first calf at 6 - 8 years
Male: 7 - 8 years; first territory at 10 years
Gestation: 16 monthsLife Span
Up to 40 years
Habitat
The White Rhinoceros prefers bushy savannah with thickets for cover and trees for shade.
Social Organisation
Adult males are always solitary and have territories of 2 square kilometres which are marked with dung heaps and urine. Adult females have home ranges of 10 to 12 square kilometres which overlap the ranges of other females and male territories. Young animals form small groups, usually of one sex. Confronting males usually perform ritual behaviour without fighting. If both males are strong, however, they may fight viciously by jabbing one another with upward blows of their front horns. Wallowing and dust baths form an important ritual. The coating of mud is thought to deter biting flies.
Predators
Humans are their major predators.
Diet In the Wild
The diet consists only of grass, especially short grass. Water is drunk every day, if available, but they can endure periods of 4 to 5 days without water. Rhinos feed during the day in cool weather, but alter their habits to feed at night in hot weather.
Diet at the Zoo
Hay, lucerne chaff, horse cubes, carrots and bananas as a treat.
Distribution
The Southern White Rhinoceros now exists only in protected parks and game reserves in southern African countries, such as Zimbabwe and South Africa. There is only one tiny wild population of the Northern sub-species left in Garamba National Park in Zaire.
Conservation Measures
Rhinoceros products are valued for their perceived medicinal use. Ground rhino horn is reputed to be an aphrodisiac; a fever reducing agent; a cure for headaches, heart and liver trouble; and for skin diseases. Hooves, blood and urine are also believed to have medicinal value in Asia. Rhino horn is also used in the handles of traditional and ceremonial daggers. The southern white rhinoceros was considered extinct in 1892. However, when a population was discovered in the valley of the Umfolozi River in Natal, the area was made a reserve. Since then, numbers have increased and they have been moved to national parks all over southern Africa. The Northern race of White Rhinoceros has been subjected constantly to civil wars and poaching and, despite several attempts to move them and create reserves around them, there remains no more than 20 in Zaire's Garamba National Park.
At Perth Zoo
The new breeding program at Perth Zoo concentrates on the Southern White Rhinoceros, with animals brought in from other zoos around the world and housed in the African Savannah exhibit.
