Adults may weigh as much as four tons. Their massive bodies are settled on short, stumpy legs. The feet have three short toes tipped with broad, blunt nails. The animal's thick skin forms plate like folds resembling armor, especially at the shoulders and thighs.
All rhinos are gray or brown in color.
They are nearly hairless except for stiff bristles at the tip of the tail and short fringes around the ears. Some species of rhinoceroses have one large horn curving upward from their snouts. Other kinds have two. The hard horn, made of a hair like substance, keratin, grows from the rhino's skin. If a horn is broken off, a new one will grow.