| White rhinoceros | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| General information | |||
| Universe | Real Life | ||
| Aliases | White rhino Square-lipped rhinoceros/rhino | ||
| Classification | Ceratotherium simum | ||
| Species type | Rhino | ||
| Homeworld | Earth | ||
| Environment | Grassland and savannas | ||
| Intelligence | Not as intelligent, it has great hearing so it is smart, so it’s IQ is 60 | ||
| Biochemistry | Carbon-based | ||
| Biological information | |||
| Lifespan | 40-50 years | ||
| Reproduction | Sexual, viviparous | ||
| Average height | ♂: 170-186 cm (5'6.93"-6'1.23") at shoulder ♀: 160-177 cm (5'2.99"-5'9.69") (19 feet tall( | ||
| Average weight | ♂: 2,300 kg (5,070 lb) ♀: 1,700 kg (6,000 lb) | ||
| Average length | ♂: 3.7-4 m (12'1.67"-13'1.48") w/o tail ♀: 3.4-3.65 m (11'1.86"-11'11.7") w/o tail (13 feet) | ||
| Locomotion | Quadrupedal | ||
| Feeding behavior | Herbivorous | ||
| Prey | Grass | ||
| Predators | Humans (illegally) | ||
| Lineage information | |||
| Related species | Ceratotherium neumayri† Ceratotherium mauritanicum† | ||
| Cultural information | |||
| Sociocultral characteristics | |||
| Scientific taxonomy | |||
| Planet | Earth | ||
| Domain | Eukaryota | ||
| Kingdom | Animalia | ||
| Subkingdom | Bilateria | ||
| Infrakingdom | Deuterostomia | ||
| Phylum | Chordata | ||
| Subphylum | Vertebrata | ||
| Infraphylum | Gnathostomata | ||
| Superclass | Tetrapoda | ||
| Class | Mammalia | ||
| Subclass | Theria | ||
| Infraclass | Placentalia | ||
| Superorder | Laurasiatheria | ||
| Order | Perissodactyla | ||
| Suborder | Ceratomorpha | ||
| Superfamily | Rhinocerotoidea | ||
| Family | Rhinocerotidae | ||
| Tribe | Rhinocerotini | ||
| Genus | Ceratotherium | ||
| Species | C. simum | ||
| Other information | |||
| Status | Near Threatened | ||
| Creator | God (debated) | ||
The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhinoceros, with an estimated 15,942 wild-living animals in the year 2018, and the much rarer northern white rhinoceros.
is a perissodactyl mammal of the family Rhinocerotidae 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.
Prior to the start of the series, several White Rhinos were brought to the park from Africa. They reside in the Ape-Man Jungle Enclosure.
Etymology[]
A popular albeit widely discredited theory of the origins of the name "white rhinoceros" is a mistranslation from Dutch to English. The English word "white" is said to have been derived by mistranslation of the Dutch word "wijd", which means "wide" in English. The word "wide" refers to the width of the rhinoceros's mouth. So early English-speaking settlers in South Africa misinterpreted the "wild" for "white" and the rhino with the wide mouth ended up being called the white rhino and the other one, with the narrow pointed mouth, was called the black rhinoceros. Ironically, Dutch (and Afrikaans) later used a calque of the English word, and now also call it a white rhino. This suggests the origin of the word was before codification by Dutch writers. A review of Dutch and Afrikaans literature about the rhinoceros has failed to produce any evidence that the word wijd was ever used to describe the rhino outside of oral use.
An alternative name for the white rhinoceros, more accurate but rarely used, is the square-lipped rhinoceros. The white rhinoceros' generic name, Ceratotherium, given by the zoologist John Edward Gray in 1868, is derived from the Greek terms keras (κέρας) "horn" and thērion (θηρίον) "beast". Simum, is derived from the Greek term simos (σιμός), meaning "flat nosed".
Description[]
The white rhinoceros is the largest of the five living species of rhinoceros. By mean body mass, the white rhinoceros falls behind only the three extant species of elephant as the largest land animal and terrestrial mammal alive today. It weighs slightly more on average than a hippopotamus despite a considerable mass overlap between these two species. It has a massive body and large head, a short neck and broad chest.
The head and body length is 3.7 to 4 m (12.1 to 13.1 ft) in males and 3.4 to 3.65 m (11.2 to 12.0 ft) in females, with the tail adding another 70 cm (28 in) and the shoulder height is 170 to 186 cm (5.58 to 6.10 ft) in the male and 160 to 177 cm (5.25 to 5.81 ft) in the female. The male, averaging about 2,300 kg (5,070 lb) is heavier than the female, at an average of about 1,700 kg (3,750 lb). The largest size the species can attain is not definitively known; specimens of up to 3,600 kg (7,940 lb) are considered reliable, while larger sizes up to 4,500 kg (9,920 lb) have been claimed but are not verified. On its snout it has two horn-like growths, one behind the other. These are made of solid keratin, in which they differ from the horns of bovids (cattle and their relatives), which are keratin with a bony core, and deer antlers, which are solid bone.
The front horn is larger and averages 60 cm (24 in) in length, reaching as much as 150 cm (59 in) but only in females. The white rhinoceros also has a noticeable hump on the back of its neck. Each of the four stumpy feet has three toes. The color of the body ranges from yellowish brown to slate grey. Its only hair is the ear fringes and tail bristles. White rhinos have a distinctive broad, straight mouth which is used for grazing. Its ears can move independently to pick up sounds, but it depends most of all on its sense of smell. The olfactory passages that are responsible for smell are larger than their entire brain. The white rhinoceros has the widest set of nostrils of any land-based animal.
Genome[]
The genome size of the white rhinoceros is 2666.62 Mbp. A diploid cell has 2 x 40 autosomals and 2 sex chromosomes (XX or XY).
Behavior and ecology[]
White rhinoceroses are found in grassland and savannah habitat. Herbivore grazers that eat grass, preferring the shortest grains, the white rhinoceros is one of the largest pure grazers. It drinks twice a day if water is available, but if conditions are dry it can live four or five days without water. It spends about half of the day eating, one third resting, and the rest of the day doing various other things. White rhinoceroses, like all species of rhinoceros, love wallowing in mud holes to cool down. The white rhinoceros is thought to have changed the structure and ecology of the savanna's grasslands. Comparatively based on studies of the African elephant, scientists believe the white rhino is a driving factor in its ecosystem. The destruction of the megaherbivore could have serious cascading effects on the ecosystem and harm other animals.
White rhinoceroses produce sounds which include a panting contact call, grunts and snorts during courtship, squeals of distress, and deep bellows or growls when threatened. Threat displays (in males mostly) include wiping its horn on the ground and a head-low posture with ears back, combined with snarl threats and shrieking if attacked. The vocalizations of the two species differ between each other, and the panting contact calls between individual white rhinoceroses in each species can vary as well. The differences in these calls aid the white rhinoceroses in identifying each other and communicating over long distances. The white rhinoceros is quick and agile and can run 50 km/h (31 mph).
White rhinoceroses live in crashes or herds of up to 14 animals (usually mostly female). Sub-adult males will congregate, often in association with an adult female. Most adult bulls are solitary. Dominant bulls mark their territory with excrement and urine. The dung is laid in well-defined piles. It may have 20 to 30 of these piles to alert passing rhinoceroses that it is his territory. Another way of marking their territory is wiping their horns on bushes or the ground and scrapes with its feet before urine spraying. They do this around ten times an hour while patrolling territory. The same ritual as urine marking except without spraying is also commonly used. The territorial male will scrape-mark every 30 m (98 ft) or so around its territory boundary. Subordinate males do not mark territory. The most serious fights break out over mating rights with a female. Female territory overlaps extensively, and they do not defend it.
Reproduction[]
Females reach sexual maturity at 6–7 years of age while males reach sexual maturity between 10 and 12 years of age. Courtship is often a difficult affair. The male stays beyond the point where the female acts aggressively and will give out a call when approaching her. The male chases and or blocks the way of the female while squealing or wailing loudly if the female tries to leave his territory. When ready to mate the female curls her tail and gets into a stiff stance during the half-hour copulation. Breeding pairs stay together between 5–20 days before they part their separate ways. The gestation period of a white rhino is 16 months. A single calf is born and usually weighs between 40 and 65 kg (88 and 143 lb). Calves are unsteady for their first two to three days of life. When threatened, the baby will run in front of the mother, which is very protective of her calf and will fight for it vigorously. Weaning starts at two months, but the calf may continue suckling for over 12 months. The birth interval for the white rhino is between two and three years. Before giving birth, the mother will chase off her current calf. White rhinos can live to be up to 40–50 years old.
Adult white rhinos have no natural predators (other than humans) due to their size, and even young rhinos are rarely attacked or preyed on due to the mother's presence and their tough skin. One exceptional successful attack was perpetrated by a lion pride on a roughly half-grown white rhinoceros, which weighed 1,055 kg (2,326 lb), and occurred in Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa.
Distribution[]
The southern white rhino lives in Southern Africa. About 98.5% of white rhinos live in just five countries (South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda). Almost at the edge of extinction in the early 20th century, the southern subspecies has made a tremendous comeback. In 2001 it was estimated that there were 11,670 white rhinos in the wild with a further 777 in captivity worldwide, making it the most common rhino in the world. By the end of 2007 wild-living southern white rhinos had increased to an estimated 17,480 animals (IUCN 2008).
The northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) formerly ranged over parts of northwestern Uganda, southern Chad, southwestern Sudan, the eastern part of Central African Republic, and northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The last surviving population of wild northern white rhinos are or were in Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) but in August 2005, ground and aerial surveys conducted under the direction of African Parks Foundation and the African Rhino Specialist Group (ARSG) only found four animals: a solitary adult male and a group of one adult male and two adult females. In June 2008 it was reported that the species may have gone extinct in the wild.
Like the black rhino, the white rhino is under threat from habitat loss and poaching, most recently by Janjaweed. Although there are no measurable health benefits, the horn is sought after for traditional medicine and jewelry.