Black rhinoceros

Animals in Africa

The black rhino is, just like its white relative, grey. The misleading color indications come from a mistranslation of the english word "wide", which refers to the wide mouth of the white rhino, an evolutionary adaptation to grazing.

Black Rhino

The black rhino is just as grey as its cousin, the white rhino. These misleading color indications are a product of the false translation of the adjective "wide", which describes the rhinos mouth. The white rhinos eats mostly grass while the black rhino eats bushes, leaves, plants and twigs and therefore has a pointy mouth. Nevertheless, black and white are accepted as description of these two different species.

The black rhino has two horns of which the front horn is largest. It can be up to 128 cm long while the shorter horn is about 50 cm. The females horns are often longer, but thinner. A rhinos horn is made of keratin, just like human hair and fingernails. These horns are quite precious, especially in Asian medicine. Some people believe powdered rhino horn will make men more potent, although there are no medically evidences. The illegal hunt for rhino horns has almost exterminated these animals.

The black rhino is a solitary animal and does only meet other rhinos in the mating season. The females are pregnant for 15 month with one calf, which weighs about 20-25 kg when born. In an age of 2-2,5 years the mother will leave its calf.

The black rhino could once be found in many African countries south of the Sahara. Today it exclusively lives in Cameroon, Kenya and South Africa.