Interesting facts about the white rhinoceros, world’s second-largest land mammal
Do you know the white rhino is the most social of all rhino species? Check out more interesting facts about them.
The white rhino or the square-lipped rhino is not only the second largest mammal present on the earth but also the largest species of rhinoceros. This most social species among all the species of rhinoceros consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhinoceros and the rarer northern white rhinoceros. It is estimated that there are around 21 thousand southern white rhinoceros living till the year 2015 but northern species have very few left on earth (two females).
Mostly these species are found in grassland and savannah habitats and they prefer to eat grass and shortest grains as they are the largest pure grazers. If water is available, they prefer to drink twice a day, but if it’s not, they can carry on without water for four to five days. Their routine is like spending half of the day eating, one-third of the day resting and the rest of the day doing various other things.
The fact behind their name
The name of this species is actually a mistranslation from Dutch to English. The English word ‘white’ is a mistranslated derivation of the Dutch word “wijd” which means ‘wide’ in English. The word ‘wide’ refers to the width of the rhinoceros’ mouth. In the early times, the English-speaking settlers misinterpreted ‘wijd’ for ‘white’ and as a result, the rhino with wide mouth ended up being called the white rhino. The other narrow-mouthed rhino is called the Black Rhinoceros.
They are in a complex social structure
They have different social structures which consist of groups of 14 rhinos, especially females with calves. Adult males use to protect the territories of almost one square mile, which they denote with dung piles. Breeding females are not allowed to cross the territory of a dominant male. Male rhinos usually engage themselves in serious fights for a female which can lead them to massive injuries.
Once extinct, they are now nearly-threatened animal
Once in the late 19th century, the white rhinos were thought to be extinct but a very small number of individuals were found in the year 1895 in Kwazulu-Natal and South Africa. After huge preservation, it took an entire century to increase their number. Now there are around 18000 animals in protected areas.
Lastly, they should be preserved more because they take care of the ecosystem of the forest, and “the only way to save a rhino is to save the environment in which it lives because there is a mutual dependency between it and millions of other species of both animals and plants”.
