There are five species of rhinoceros that still exist today, two in Africa and three in Asia. The main difference between the two species is that African rhinos are bigger and have two horns, while their Asian relatives are considerably smaller and only have one horn. The only exception to this rule is the Sumatran rhino, which also has two horns.
White rhinos are the second-largest land mammal, only topped by elephants, and they mainly occur in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. Their name is quite misleading because white rhinos are actually grey and the same color as their relatives, the black rhinos. Their name comes from the Afrikaans word “weit”, which means “wide” and refers to their mouths.
The black rhino is smaller in size and weight and their mouth also looks very different from the square mouth of the white rhino. The black rhino is critically endangered with only about 5000 individuals left, mainly in South Africa, Kenya and Namibia.
Indian rhinos are almost as large as the African white rhino and once inhabited a territory ranging from Pakistan to China. Today, they can only be found in protected areas in India and Nepal, with a few individuals living in Pakistan.
The Javan rhinoceros is one of the most endangered mammals on earth, with only about 60 individuals remaining on the island of Java. They used to range from Nepal to Sumatra, with the last rhino living outside of Java being killed in 2011 in Vietnam by poachers.
The Sumatran rhino is the only Asian rhinoceros that has two horns like its African relatives. It is the smallest of all rhino species and has more hair than the others. It can be found today in very high regions in Sumatra and Borneo and is facing threats like poaching and habitat loss from palm oil production. This is why this species is also considered critically endangered.