African Black Rhino

Price range: 1,00 € through 100,00 €

Donation to support African Rhino conservation.

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SKU: N/A Categories: Species - Critically Endangered, Terrestrial

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Fun Facts

Information

Species Name (Scientific): Diceros bicornis

IUCN Category: Critically Endangered

Habitat Type: Savanna | Shrubland | Desert

Geographic Range: Sub-Saharan Africa

Black Rhinos play a crucial role in their ecosystems. As browsers, they help shape the landscape by preventing the overgrowth of woody plants, allowing grasses to flourish, which benefits other herbivores like zebras and antelopes.

They are an iconic species with huge cultural significance, which along with White Rhinos, are often seen as symbols of strength and resilience in African culture. They are a remarkable and ancient species, but its survival remains precarious due to human activities, making conservation efforts crucial for its future.

Primary threats: Humans – poaching/illegal horn trade, corruption & inadequate legislation, habitat loss/fragmentation (climate change, agriculture, human encroachment, & infrastructure development). Loss of genetic diversity due to low population density.

Additional information

Fun Facts

~ They browse on bushes and low trees, and have 2 continually growing horns, made of keratin, the same substance as human hair/fingernails.

~ They have poor eyesight and are colour blind, however, they have fantastic senses of smell and hearing. They can swivel their cone-shaped ears to pick up on the tiniest sound.

~ Weighing up to 1,350kg for males, 900kg for females, they can still run at up to 55kph (34mph), right through scrub/bushes, and can turn surprisingly quickly.

~ Their body temperature is similar to humans, relying on the sun as their external source of heat. At night wild baby rhinos get heat from their mothers; help is needed in an orphanage.

~ Rhinos communicate with an array of noises and also chemically through their poo and urine.

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