Journal 2 - Research on the White Rhinoes.

Title of article : White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum)
Url of article : http://www.arkive.org/white-rhinoceros/ceratotherium-simum/info.html

Southern white rhinoceros

Facts
Also known as: square-lipped rhinoceros, Northern White Rhinoceros, White rhino
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order Perissodactyla
Family Rhinocerotidae
Genus Ceratotherium (1)
Size Male head-and-body length: 3.7 – 4 m (2)
Female head-and-body length: 3.4 – 3.65 m (2)
Tail length: 70 cm (2)
Male shoulder height: 1.7 – 1.86 m (2)
Female shoulder height: 1.6 – 1.77 m (2)
Male weight: 2.3 tonnes (2)
Female weight: 1.7 tonnes (2)
Status

Classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List (1). Two subspecies of the white rhinoceros are recognised: northern (C. s. cottoni), and southern (C. s. simum). The northern white rhinoceros is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List and listed on Appendix I of CITES; the southern white rhinoceros is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List and listed on Appendix I of CITES, except in South Africa and Swaziland, where it is listed on Appendix II (1) (3).
Description

Amongst the most charismatic and recognisable of Africa’s mega-fauna (4), the white rhinoceros is the largest of the five rhinoceros species and one of the world’s biggest land animals, second only to the African and Asian elephant in size (5) (6). Unlike its common name suggests, this enormous, virtually hairless mammal is not in fact white, but slate-grey to yellowish-brown in colour (5) (7). The ‘white’ likely comes from a mistranslation of the Afrikaner word for ‘wide’, referring to the animal’s wide mouth (5). Indeed, this species is often called the ‘square-lipped rhinoceros’ because of its broad, square, rather than pointed, flexible upper lip, differentiating it from the black rhino (Diceros bicornis). The white rhinoceros can also be distinguished from its African cousin by its longer skull, less sharply defined forehead and more pronounced shoulder hump (7). Like the black rhinoceros and Sumatran rhinoceros, this species has two horns, the front being longer and averaging 60 cm in length, but occasionally reaching up to a enormous 1.5 m (5) (7).
Range

Two geographically separated subspecies of white rhinoceros are recognised, the northern and the southern (1). Once ranging in large numbers throughout north-central Africa south of the Sahara (8), the northern subspecies is now amongst the rarest of all rhinos, occurring only in the Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (1), where as few as four animals were counted during intensive surveys in 2006 (9). Meanwhile, the southern subspecies is the most numerous of all the world’s rhinos, with its stronghold in South Africa (93%) (10). Much smaller populations exist following reintroductions within the subspecies’ former range in Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe and introduced outside their historical range in Zambia, Uganda and Kenya (1) (5) (11).



Reflections

What I have learnt.

I have learnt that white rhinos are also known by different names. The white rhinos are the largest species of rhinos and it is not actually white in colour. Most of the rhinos left are found in South Africa. Smaller populations are found in different areas such as Kenya and Uganda.

The white rhinos are left with little land to roam and are starting to become extinct due to the poaching of them. The white rhinos have many distinctive features about them as stated above and can be easily recognised.