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Rhinoceros
Editors: K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner
Date: July 31, 2018
From: The Gale Encyclopedia of Science(5th ed.)
Publisher: Gale, part of Cengage Group
Document Type: Topic overview
Length: 577 words
Content Level: (Level 4)
Lexile Measure: 1110L
Full Text:
Rhinoceroses are heavily built, thick-skinned, herbivorous mammals with one or two horns, and three toes on each foot. The family
Rhinocerotidae includes five species found in Asia or Africa, all of which are threatened by extinction.
The two-ton, one-horned Great Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is a shy and inoffensive animal that seldom acts
aggressively. This rhino was once abundant in Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan.
The smaller, one-horned Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is the only species in which the females are hornless. Javan
rhinos formerly ranged throughout Southeast Asia, but are now on the edge of extinction, with 58-68 individuals remaining.
The Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is the smallest species of rhino. It has two horns and a hairy hide. There are
two extant subspecies: D. s. sumatrensis of Sumatra and Borneo, and D. s. harrissoni of Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar.
Sumatran rhinos are found in hilly jungles and once coexisted in Southeast Asia with Javan rhinos. Fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos
currently exist.
The two-horned white, or square-lipped, rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) of the African savanna is the second-largest land
mammal (after the African elephant). It stands 7 ft (2 m) at the shoulder, and weighs more than 3 tons (2,700 kg). White rhinos have a
wide upper lip, useful for grazing. There are two subspecies: the northern white rhino (C. s. cottoni) and the southern white rhino (C.
s. simum). Once common in Sudan, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, only three northern white rhinos now exist.
Southern white rhinos are doing better, with more than 20,000 individuals left in the wild in 2018.
The smaller, two-horned black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) has a pointed upper lip for browsing on leaves and twigs. Black rhinos
(which are actually dark brown) can be aggressive but their poor eyesight makes for blundering charges. Black rhinos were once
common throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but currently are found only in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa. In 2018,
multiple conservation agencies, including the World Wildlife Federation, estimated there were no more than 5,500 black rhinos left in
the wild, compared to 70,000 only 50 years earlier. In November 2011, the IUCN declared Africa’s western black rhinoceros, a black
rhino subspecies, extinct. In the early twentieth century, they numbered over one million.
Widespread poaching has caused crashes in the populations of all species of rhinos. These animals are slaughtered for their horn,
which is made of hardened, compressed, hair-like fibers. The horn sells for extremely high prices. In Asia, rhino horn is prized for its
supposed medicinal properties, and powdered horn can fetch $100,000 per kg, more than the price of gold. Rhino horn is also
valuable for sale in Yemen, where it is used to make traditional dagger-handles. Because their horns are so valuable, rhinos have
been overhunted throughout their range. They now survive only where there is strict protection from poachers.
Captive-breeding programs for endangered rhinos are hindered by the general lack of breeding success for these animals in zoos,
and a slow reproduction rate of only one calf every three to five years. As of 2018, the world rhino population is about 30,000
animals, a number not much greater than the estimated “safe” long-term survival number of around 25,000.
Books
Anthony, Lawrence, and Graham Spence. The Last Rhinos: My Battle to Save One of the World's Greatest Creatures. New York: St.
Martin's Griffin, 2013.
Evans, Kim Masters. Endangered Species: Protecting Biodiversity. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Cengage Learning, 2017.
Goodall, Jane, Thane Maynard, and Gail E. Hudson. Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being
Rescued from the Brink. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2011.
Walker, Clive, and Anton Walker. Rhino Revolution: Searching for New Solutions. Auckland Park, South Africa: Jacana Media, 2017.
Websites
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. “IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Diceros bicornis.”
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/6557/0 (accessed June 28, 2018).
Save the Rhino. http://www.savetherhino.org (accessed June 28, 2018).
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora.” http://www.cites.org/ (accessed June 28, 2018).
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2014 Gale, Cengage Learning
Source Citation (MLA 9th Edition)
"Rhinoceros." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science, edited by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, 5th ed., Gale, 2014. Gale In
Context: Science, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2644031918/SCIC?u=hesd21&sid=bookmark-SCIC&xid=0a1a48e1. Accessed 27
Sept. 2023.
Gale Document Number: GALE|CV2644031918