White Rhino Facts

The white rhinoceros is one of the five species of rhinoceros which exist in the world today. It is also known as the Square-lipped rhinoceros owing to its squared off lip, which happens to be an adaptation which helps it feed on the short grass in the Savannas. There exist two subspecies of this animal - the Northern white rhino and the Southern white rhino. While the former is severely endangered, with only a few individuals left in captivity, the later continues to be found in abundance in its natural habitat.

White Rhino: Habitat and Geographical Distribution

The habitat of this rhino species is typically characterized by water holes, mud wallows and a lot of trees. Found in abundance in several parts of Uganda, Chad, Sudan, Central African Republic and Congo, at one point of time, the Northern white rhino is only found in the Garamba National Park, in Congo today. On the other hand, the major concentration of the Southern white species is seen in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda, which together house 98.5 percent of the population.

Interesting Facts about the White Rhino

The white rhino is second largest land mammal on the Earth. An adult rhino can attain an average length of 3.4 to 4.2 meters, and a shoulder height ranging between 4 ft 10 inches to 6 ft 3 inches It is known to weigh somewhere between 3,000 to 8,000 lbs. Given below are more of such white rhinoceros facts, which are bound to leave you amazed.

• A white rhino has two horns, made of keratin, on its head. Among these horns, the horn located in the front is larger.
• The feet of this rhino species are stumpy, and typically characterized by three toes on each.
• Being a herbivorous grazer in nature, its diet predominantly consists of the grass growing in the Savannas.
• White rhinos have an amazing ability of using their ears independently, similar to the ability of a chameleon to use its eyes independently.
• Mating in this species goes round the year, with the peak phase between February to June, and the female gives birth to a calf after 470 to 490 days of gestation.

Although it is called the white rhino, it is not white - but is, in fact, gray in color. The name white rhino can be traced to the mistranslation from Dutch to English. The Dutch word 'wijd', meaning 'wide' in English, was used to refer to the width of the mouth of this species.

Other than these facts, you also need to know about the threat of poaching looming on these creatures. The white rhino species have been subjected to excessive poaching over the last few decades, mainly for their keratin horns, which have a huge demand in the international market owing to their alleged medicinal and ornamental value. Incessant poaching, and lack of the efforts on the part of the administration, has brought the Northern white rhino on the verge of extinction. Even though the Southern white species has been enlisted as the 'Not Threatened' species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the large-scale poaching of this species is bound to cause its population to dwindle sooner or later.