RHINOCEROS

The 'rhinoceros' (), or 'rhino', is any of five surviving species of odd-toed ungulates in the family 'Rhinocerotidae'. Two species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia. Four of the five species are critically endangered, and the other, the Indian Rhinoceros, is endangered.
The word "rhinoceros" (ρινόκερος) is derived from the Greek words ''rhino'', meaning nose, and ''kera'', meaning horn; hence "horned-nose". The plural can be ''rhinoceros'', ''rhinoceri'', or ''rhinoceroses''.
The family is characterised by large size (one of the few remaining megafauna surviving today) with all of the species capable of reaching one ton or more in weight; herbivorous diet; and 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 (400-600g); and its horn.
The rhino is prized for its horn. The horns of a Rhinoceros is made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair, but the horn is not itself made of hair as some have believed[1].
Rhinoceros also have acute hearing and sense of smell, but poor eyesight. Most rhinoceros live to be about 50 years old or more. The collective noun for a group of rhinoceros is "crash".
Both African varieties have two horns in tandem while the Asian types have a single horn.

Contents

Classification

Rhinoceros horns

Legend

References

External links

Classification

Several rhinoceros species became extinct within geologically recent times, notably the Giant Unicorn and the Woolly Rhinoceros in Eurasia; the extent to which climate change or human predation was responsible is debated. Current evidence indicates that they probably had survived many climate changes before modern man arrived.
Rhinoceros-like animals first appeared in the Eocene as rather slender animals, and by the late Miocene there were many species. Most were large. One, Indricotherium, may have weighed about 20 tons and (so far as is known) was the largest terrestrial mammal that ever lived. Rhinos in North America became locally extinct during the Pliocene, and in northern Asia, and Europe during the Pleistocene.
The five living species fall into three categories. The critically endangered Sumatran Rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (about 20 million years ago).^[1] The extinct Woolly Rhinoceros of northern Europe and Asia was also a member of this tribe. There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the endangered Indian Rhinoceros and the critically endangered Javan Rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago. The two African species, the White Rhinoceros and the Black Rhinoceros, diverged during the early Pliocene (about 5 million years ago) but the Dicerotini group to which they belong originated in the middle Miocene, about 14 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 and black rhinos have long pointed lips for eating foliage. The name ''White'' Rhinoceros was actually a mistake, or rather a corruption of the word ''wijd'' (wide in Afrikaans) because of their square lips. White Rhinoceros are divided into Northern and Southern subspecies.
A subspecific hybrid white rhino (''Ceratotherium s. simum'' × ''C. s. cottoni'') was bred at the Dvurkralv Zoo (Zoological Garden Dvur Kralove nad Labem) in the Czech Republic in 1977.
Interspecific hybridisation of Black and White Rhinoceros has also been confirmed .





★ 'Family Rhinocerotidae'

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★ 'Subfamily Rhinocerotinae'

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★ 'Tribe Aceratheriini'

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★ ''Aceratherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Acerorhinus'' (extinct)

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★ ''Alicornops'' (extinct)

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★ ''Aphelops'' (extinct)

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★ ''Chilotheridium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Chilotherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Dromoceratherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Floridaceras'' (extinct)

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★ ''Hoploaceratherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Mesaceratherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Peraceras'' (extinct)

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★ ''Plesiaceratherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Proaceratherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Sinorhinus'' (extinct)

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★ ''Subchilotherium'' (extinct)

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★ 'Tribe Teleoceratini'

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★ ''Aprotodon'' (extinct)

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★ ''Brachydiceratherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Brachypodella'' (extinct)

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★ ''Brachypotherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Diaceratherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Prosantorhinus'' (extinct)

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★ ''Shennongtherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Teleoceras'' (extinct)

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★ 'Tribe Rhinocerotini'

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★ ''Gaindatherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Rhinoceros'' - Indian & Javan Rhinoceros

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★ 'Tribe Dicerorhinini'

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★ ''Coelodonta'' - Woolly Rhinoceros (extinct)

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★ ''Dicerorhinus'' - Sumatran Rhinoceros

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★ ''Dihoplus'' (extinct)

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★ ''Lartetotherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Stephanorhinus'' (extinct)

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★ 'Tribe Ceratotheriini'

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★ ''Ceratotherium'' - White Rhinoceros

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★ 'Tribe Dicerotini'

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★ ''Diceros'' - Black Rhinoceros

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★ ''Paradiceros'' (extinct)

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★ 'Subfamily Elasmotheriinae'

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★ ''Gulfoceras'' (extinct)

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★ 'Tribe Diceratheriini'

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★ ''Diceratherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Subhyracodon'' (extinct)

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★ 'Tribe Elasmotheriini'

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★ ''Bugtirhinus'' (extinct)

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★ ''Caementodon'' (extinct)

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★ ''Elasmotherium'' - Giant Unicorn (extinct)

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★ ''Hispanotherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Huaqingtherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Iranotherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Kenyatherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Menoceras'' (extinct)

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★ ''Ougandatherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Parelasmotherium'' (extinct)

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★ ''Procoelodonta'' (extinct)

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★ ''Sinotherium'' (extinct)

Rhinoceros horns

The most obvious distinguishing characteristic of the rhinos is a large horn above the nose. Rhinoceros horns, unlike those of other horned mammals, consist of keratin only and lacks a bony core, such as bovine horns. Rhinoceros horns are used in traditional Asian medicine, and for dagger handles in Yemen and Oman.
One repeated fallacy is that rhinoceros horn in powdered form is used as an aphrodisiac in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is, in fact, prescribed for life-threatening fevers and convulsions and has been clinically shown to have fever-reducing properties. ^[2] This misunderstanding has interfered with discussions with TCM practitioners in order to reduce its use since the TCM doctors see it as a life-saving medicine of last resort after cheaper substitutes like water buffalo horn are exhausted. China has signed the CITES treaty however. To prevent poaching, in certain areas rhinos have been tranquillized and their horns removed.

Legend

There are a number of legends about rhinoceroses stamping out fire. The story seems to have been common in Malaysia, India, and Burma. This type of rhinoceros even had a special name in Malay, ''badak api'', where ''badak'' means rhinoceros and ''api'' means fire. The animal would come when a fire is lit in the forest and stamp it out. Whether or not there is any truth to this has not yet been proven, as there has been no documented sighting of this phenomenon in recent history. This lack of evidence may stem from the fact that rhinoceros sightings overall in south-east Asia have become very rare, largely due to widespread poaching of the critically endangered animal. This legend is featured prominently in the film ''The Gods Must Be Crazy'' as well as on an episode of ''The Simpsons''.
In the novel ''James and the Giant Peach'' by author Roald Dahl, the main character's parents are supposedly eaten by a rhinoceros that had escaped from the London Zoo. In actuality, Rhinoceros are herbivores.
Albrecht Dürer created a famous woodcut of a rhinoceros in 1515, without ever seeing the animal depicted. As a result, Dürer's Rhinoceros is rather inaccurate.

References

1. Rabinowitz, Alan (June 1995) "Helping a Species Go Extinct: The''<33 six.'' Sumatran Rhino in Borneo" ''Conservation Biology'' 9(3): pp. 482-488
2. Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, Third Edition by Dan Bensky, Steven Clavey, Erich Stoger, and Andrew Gamble. September 2004


★ Chapman, January 1999. ''The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China''. Christies Books, London. ISBN 0-903432-57-9.

★ Laufer, Berthold. 1914. "History of the Rhinoceros." In: ''Chinese Clay Figures, Part I: Prolegomena on the History of Defence Armour''. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, pp. 73-173.

★ Rhinoceros skin and horn characteristics (pdf file)

★ Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, Third Edition by Dan Bensky, Steven Clavey, Erich Stoger, and Andrew Gamble. September 2004

★ [2]]''Can we tame wild medicine? To save a rare species, Western conservationists may have to make their peace with traditional Chinese medicine.'' Rob Parry-Jones and Amanda Vincent, New Scientist, volume 157, issue 2115 - 3rd January, 1998.

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External links

★ Rhinoceros Information

★ International Rhino Foundation

★ The Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya

★ SOS Rhino

★ Save the Rhino

★ Rhinoceros entry on World Wide Fund for Nature website.

★ Rhino photographs and information