Rhinoceros

Rhinocerotidae or Rhinoceros, often abbreviated as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to Southern Asia.
Members of the rhinoceros family are characterized by their large size (they are some of the largest remaining megafauna, with all of the species able to reach one tonne or more in weight); as well as by an herbivorous diet; a thick protective skin, 1.5–5 cm thick, formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure; relatively small brains for mammals this size (400–600 g); and a large horn. They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter, if necessary. Unlike other perissodactyls, the two African species of rhinoceros lack teeth at the front of their mouths, relying instead on their powerful premolar and molar teeth to grind up plant food.
Rhinoceros are killed by humans for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market, and which are used by some cultures for ornamental or traditional medicinal purposes. East Asia, specifically Vietnam, is the largest market for rhino horns. Rhino horns cost as much as gold on the black market. People grind up the horns and then consume them believing the dust has therapeutic properties. The horns are made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails. Both African species and the Sumatran rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan rhinoceros have a single horn.
==Taxonomy and Naming==
The word rhinoceros is derived through Latin from the Ancient Greek: ῥῑνόκερως, which is composed of ῥῑνο- (rhino-, nose") The plural in English is rhinoceros or rhinoceroses. The collective noun for a group of rhinoceroses is crash or herd.
The five living species fall into three categories. The two African species, the white rhinoceros and the black rhinoceros, belong to the Dicerotini group, which originated in the middle Miocene, about 14.2 million years ago. The species diverged during the early Pliocene (about 5 million years ago). The main difference between black and white rhinos is the shape of their mouths – white rhinos have broad flat lips for grazing, whereas black rhinos have long pointed lips for eating foliage.
There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the Indian rhinoceros and the Javan rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago. The Sumatran rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (about 20 million years ago). The extinct woolly rhinoceros of northern Europe and Asia was also a member of this tribe.
A subspecific hybrid white rhino (Ceratotherium s. simum × C. s. cottoni) was bred at the Dvůr Králové Zoo (Zoological Garden Dvur Kralove nad Labem) in the Czech Republic in 1977. Interspecific hybridisation of black and white rhinoceros has also been confirmed.
While the black rhinoceros has 84 chromosomes (diploid number, 2N, per cell), all other rhinoceros species have 82 chromosomes.
===Ceratotherium===
There are two subspecies of white rhino: the Southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) and the Northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni). In 2007, the southern subspecies had a wild population of 17,480 (IUCN2008) – 16,266 of which were in South Africa – making them the most abundant rhino subspecies in the world. However, the northern subspecies was critically endangered, with as few as four individuals in the wild; the possibility of complete extinction in the wild having been noted since June 2008. Six are known to be held in captivity, two of which reside at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Four born in a zoo in the Czech Republic were transferred to a wildlife refuge in Kenya in December 2009, in an effort to have the animals reproduce and save the subspecies.
There is no conclusive explanation of the name white rhinoceros. A popular theory that "white" is a distortion of either the Afrikaans word wyd or the Dutch word wijd (or its other possible spellings whyde, weit, etc.,) meaning wide and referring to the rhino's square lips is not supported by linguistic studies.
The white rhino has an immense body and large head, a short neck and broad chest. This rhino can exceed 3,500 kg (7,700 lb), have a head-and-body length of 3.5–4.6 m (11–15 ft) and a shoulder height of 1.8–2 m (5.9–6.6 ft). The record-sized white rhinoceros was about 4,500 kg (10,000 lb). On its snout it has two horns. The front horn is larger than the other horn and averages 90 cm (35 in) in length and can reach 150 cm (59 in). The white rhinoceros also has a prominent muscular hump that supports its relatively large head. The colour of this animal can range from yellowish brown to slate grey. Most of its body hair is found on the ear fringes and tail bristles, with the rest distributed rather sparsely over the rest of the body. White rhinos have the distinctive flat broad mouth that is used for grazing.
 Ceratotherium simum (Burchell, 1817) (White Rhinoceros)
 Ceratotherium simum cottoni (Lydekker, 1908) (Northern White Rhinoceros)
===Diceros===
The name Black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) was chosen to distinguish this species from the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). This can be confusing, as the two species are not really distinguishable by color. There are four subspecies of black rhino: South-central (Diceros bicornis minor) the most numerous, which once ranged from central Tanzania south through Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to northern and eastern South Africa; South-western (Diceros bicornis bicornis) which are better adapted to the arid and semi-arid savannas of Namibia, southern Angola, western Botswana and western South Africa; East African (Diceros bicornis michaeli) and West African (Diceros bicornis longipes) which was declared extinct in November 2011. The native Tswanan name keitloa describes a South African variation of the black rhino in which the posterior horn is equal to or longer than the anterior horn.
An adult black rhinoceros stands 1.50–1.75 m (59–69 in) high at the shoulder and is 3.5–3.9 m (11–13 ft) in length. An adult weighs from 850 to 1,600 kg (1,870 to 3,530 lb), exceptionally to 1,800 kg (4,000 lb), with the females being smaller than the males. Two horns on the skull are made of keratin with the larger front horn typically 50 cm long, exceptionally up to 140 cm. Sometimes, a third smaller horn may develop. The black rhino is much smaller than the white rhino, and has a pointed mouth, which it uses to grasp leaves and twigs when feeding.
During the latter half of the 20th century their numbers were severely reduced from an estimated 70,000 in the late 1960s to only 2,410 in 1995.
 Diceros bicornis (Linnaeus, 1758 (Black Rhinoceros)
 †Diceros bicornis bicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Southern Black Rhinoceros)
 †Diceros bicornis longipes (Zukowsky, 1949) (Western Black Rhinoceros)
 Diceros bicornis michaeli (Zukowsky, 1965) (Eastern Black Rhinoceros)
 Diceros bicornis minor (Drummond, 1876) (South-central Black Rhinoceros)
 Diceros bicornis occidentalis (Zukowsky, 1922) (South-western Black Rhinoceros)
===Rhinoceros===
====Indian Rhinoceros====
The Indian rhinoceros, or greater one-horned rhinoceros, (Rhinoceros unicornis) has a single horn 20 to 100 cm long. It is nearly as large as the African white rhino. Its thick, silver-brown skin forms huge folds all over its body. Its upper legs and shoulders are covered in wart-like bumps, and it has very little body hair. Grown males are larger than females in the wild, weighing from 2,500–3,200 kg (5,500–7,100 lb). Shoulder height is 1.75–2.0 m (5.75–6.5 ft). Females weigh about 1,900 kg and are 3–4 m long. The record-sized specimen was approximately 3,800 kg.
Indian rhinos once inhabited many areas ranging from Pakistan to Burma and maybe even parts of China. However, because of human influence, they now only exist in several protected areas of India (in Assam, West Bengal, and a few pairs in Uttar Pradesh) and Nepal, plus a few pairs in plus a few pairs in Lal Suhanra National Park in Pakistan. It is confined to the tall grasslands and forests in the foothills of the Himalayas. Two-thirds of the world's Indian rhinoceroses are now confined to the Kaziranga National Park situated in the Golaghat district of Assam, India.
====Javan Rhinoceros====
The Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is one of the most endangered large mammals in the world. According to 2002 estimates, only about 60 remain, in Java (Indonesia) and Vietnam. It is also the least known rhino species. Like the closely related, and larger, Indian rhinoceros, the Javan rhino has a single horn. Its hairless, hazy gray skin falls into folds into the shoulder, back, and rump, giving it an armored appearance. Its length reaches 3.1–3.2 m (10–10 ft) including the head, and its height 1.5–1.7 m (4 ft 11 in–5 ft 7 in). Adults are variously reported to weigh 900–1,400 kg or 1,360–2,000 kg. Male horns can reach 26 cm in length, while in females they are knobs or altogether absent. These animals prefer dense lowland rain forest, tall grass and reed beds that are plentiful with large floodplains and mud wallows.
Though once widespread throughout Asia, by the 1930s they were nearly hunted to extinction in Nepal, India, Burma, Peninsular Malaysia, and Sumatra for the supposed medical powers of their horns and blood. As of 2009, only 40 remain in Ujung Kulon Conservation, Java, Indonesia. The last rhino in Vietnam was reportedly killed in 2010.
 Rhinoceros unicornis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Indian Rhinoceros)
 Rhinoceros sondaicus (Desmarest, 1822) (Javan Rhinoceros)
===Dicerorhinus===
The Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is the smallest extant rhinoceros species, as well as the one with the most hair. It can be found at very high altitudes in Borneo and Sumatra. Due to habitat loss and poaching, their numbers have declined and it has become the most threatened rhinoceros. About 275 Sumatran rhinos are believed to remain.
A mature rhino typically stands about 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) high at the shoulder, has a length of 2.4–3.2 m (7 ft 10 in–10 ft 6 in) and weighs around 700 kg (1,500 lb), though the largest individuals have been known to weigh as much as 1,000 kilograms. Like the African species, it has two horns; the larger is the front (25–79 cm), with the smaller usually less than 10 cm long. Males have much larger horns than the females. Hair can range from dense (the densest hair in young calves) to sparse. The color of these rhinos is reddish brown. The body is short and has stubby legs. The lip is prehensile.
Sumatran rhinoceros are on the verge of extinction due to loss of habitat and illegal hunting. Once they were spread across South-east Asia, but now they are confined to several parts of Indonesia and Malaysia due to reproductive isolation. There were 320 of Sumatran rhinos in 1995, which by 2011 have dwindled to 216. It has been found through DNA comparison that the Sumatran rhinoceros is the most ancient extant rhinoceros, and related to the extinct Woolly rhinoceros, Coelodonta. In 1994 Alan Rabinowitz publicly denounced that governments, NGO’s and other institutions were lacking in attempts to conserve the Sumatran rhinoceros. In order to conserve it, they would have to be relocated from small forests to breeding programs where their breeding success could be monitored. In order to boost reproduction, the Malaysian and Indonesian governments could also agree on exchanging the gametes of the Sumatran and (smaller) Bornean subspecies. There has also been a proposal by the Indonesian and Malaysian governments for a single management unit for these two ancient subspecies.
 Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (Fischer, 1814) (Sumatran Rhinoceros)
==Evolution==
Rhinocerotoids diverged from other perissodactyls by the early Eocene. Fossils of Hyrachyus eximus found in North America date to this period. This small hornless ancestor resembled a tapir or small horse more than a rhino. Three families, sometimes grouped together as the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea, evolved in the late Eocene, namely the Hyracodontidae, Amynodontidae and Rhinocerotidae.
===Hyracodontidae===
*see Hyracodontidae.
Hyracodontidae, also known as 'running rhinos', showed adaptations for speed, and would have looked more like horses than modern rhinos. The smallest hyracodontids were dog-sized; the largest was Indricotherium, believed to be one of the largest land mammals that ever existed. The hornless Paraceratherium was almost seven metres high, ten metres long, and weighed as much as 15 tons. Like a giraffe, it ate leaves from trees. The hyracodontids spread across Eurasia from the mid-Eocene to early Miocene.
===Amynodontidae===
*see Amynodontidae.
The Amynodontidae, also known as "aquatic rhinos", dispersed across North America and Eurasia, from the late Eocene to early Oligocene. The amynodontids were hippopotamus-like in their ecology and appearance, inhabiting rivers and lakes, and sharing many of the same adaptations to aquatic life as hippos.
===Rhinocerotidae===
The family of all modern rhinoceros, the Rhinocerotidae, first appeared in the Late Eocene in Eurasia. The earliest members of Rhinocerotidae were small and numerous; at least 26 genera lived in Eurasia and North America until a wave of extinctions in the middle Oligocene wiped out most of the smaller species. However, several independent lineages survived. Menoceras, a pig-sized rhinoceros, had two horns side-by-side. The North American Teleoceras had short legs, a barrel chest and lived until about 5 million years ago. The last rhinos in the Americas became extinct during the Pliocene.
Modern rhinos are thought to have begun dispersal from Asia during the Miocene. Two species survived the most recent period of glaciation and inhabited Europe as recently as 10,000 years ago: the Woolly rhinoceros and Elasmotherium. The woolly rhinoceros appeared in China around 1 million years ago and first arrived in Europe around 600,000 years ago. It reappeared 200,000 years ago, alongside the Woolly mammoth, and became numerous. Eventually it was hunted to extinction by early humans. Elasmotherium, also known as the giant rhinoceros, survived through the middle Pleistocene: it was two meters tall, five meters long and weighed around five tons, with a single enormous horn, hypsodont teeth and long legs for running.
Of the extant rhinoceros species, the Sumatran rhino is the most archaic, first emerging more than 15 million years ago. The Sumatran rhino was closely related to the woolly rhinoceros, but not to the other modern species. The Indian rhino and Javan rhino are closely related and form a more recent lineage of Asian rhino. The ancestors of early Indian and Javan rhino diverged 2–4 million years ago.
The origin of the two living African rhinos can be traced to the late Miocene (6 mya) species Ceratotherium neumayri. The lineages containing the living species diverged by the early Pliocene (1.5 mya), when Diceros praecox, the likely ancestor of the black rhinoceros, appears in the fossil record. The black and white rhinoceros remain so closely related that they can still mate and successfully produce offspring.
 Family Rhinocerotidae
 Subfamily Rhinocerotinae
 Tribe Aceratheriini
 Tribe Aceratheriini
 †Aceratherium (lived from 33.9—3.4 Ma)
 †Acerorhinus (13.6—7.0 Ma)
 †Alicornops (13.7—5.33 Ma)
 †Aphelops (20.430—5.330 Ma)
 †Chilotheridium (23.03—11.610 Ma)
 †Chilotherium (13.7—3.4 Ma)
 †Dromoceratherium (15.97—7.25 Ma)
 †Floridaceras (20.43—16.3 Ma)
 †Hoploaceratherium (16.9—16.0 Ma)
 †Mesaceratherium
 †Peraceras (20.6—10.3 Ma)
 †Plesiaceratherium (20.0—11.6 Ma)
 †Proaceratherium (16.9—16.0 Ma)
 †Sinorhinus
 †Subchilotherium
 Tribe Teleoceratini
 †Aprotodon (28.4—5.330 Ma)
 †Brachydiceratherium
 †Brachypodella
 †Brachypotherium (20.0—5.33 Ma)
 †Diaceratherium (28.4—16.0 Ma)
 †Prosantorhinus (16.9—7.25 Ma)
 †Shennongtherium
 †Teleoceras (16.9—4.9 Ma)
 Tribe Rhinocerotini 40.4—11.1 Ma—Present
 †Gaindatherium (11.61—11.1 Ma)
 Subtribe Rhinocerotina 17.5 Ma—Present
 †Rusingaceros (17.5 Ma)
 Rhinoceros (Indian & Javan rhinoceros)
 Tribe Dicerorhinini
 †Coelodonta (Woolly rhinoceros)
 Dicerorhinus (Sumatran rhinoceros)
 †Dihoplus (11.610—1.810 Ma)
 †Lartetotherium (15.97—8.7 Ma)
 †Stephanorhinus (9.7—0.126 Ma) (Merck´s rhinoceros & Narrow-nosed rhinoceros)
 Tribe Dicerotini 23.03—Present
 Ceratotherium (7.250—Present) (White Rhinoceros)
 Diceros (23.03—Present) (Black Rhinoceros)
 †Paradiceros (15.97—11.61 Ma)
 Subfamily Elasmotheriinae
 †Gulfoceras (23.030—20.430 Ma)
 †Victoriaceros (15 Ma)
 Tribe Diceratheriini
 †Diceratherium (33.9—11.610 Ma)
 †Subhyracodon 38.0—26.3 Ma
 Tribe Elasmotheriini 20.0—0.126 Ma
 †Bugtirhinus (20.0—16.9 Ma)
 †Caementodon
 †Elasmotherium (3.6—0.126 Ma)
 †Hispanotherium (synonymized with Huaqingtherium) (16.0—7.250 Ma)
 †Iranotherium
 †Kenyatherium
 †Meninatherium
 †Menoceras (23.03—16.3 Ma)
 †Ningxiatherium
 †Ougandatherium
 †Parelasmotherium
 †Procoelodonta
 †Sinotherium (9.0—5.3 Ma)
==Predators, Poaching and Hunting==
Adult rhinoceros have no real predators in the wild, other than humans. Young rhinos can however fall prey to big cats, crocodiles, wild dogs, and hyenas.
Although rhinos are large and have a reputation for being tough, they are very easily poached; they visit water holes daily and can be easily killed while they drink. As of December 2009, poaching increased globally while efforts to protect the rhino are considered increasingly ineffective. The worst estimate, that only 3% of poachers are successfully countered, is reported of Zimbabwe, while Nepal has largely avoided the crisis. Poachers have become more sophisticated. About 69% of Rhino in the world are inhabituated in Nepal. South African officials have called for urgent action against poaching after poachers killed the last female rhino in the Krugersdorp Game Reserve near Johannesburg. Statistics from South African National Parks show that 333 rhinoceros were killed in South Africa in 2010, increasing to 668 by 2012, and over 1,004 in 2013. In some cases rhinos are drugged and their horns removed, while in other instances more than the horn is taken.
The Namibian government and Save the Rhino International have been positive about the benefits that rhino trophy hunting may hold for conservation. Hunting licenses for five Namibian Black rhinos are auctioned annually. Additionally, support for a legal trade of rhino horn to combat poaching has been growing. Some conservationists and members of the public however oppose or question this practice.
Category:Families