Dear Atria, we took the above picture at the San Diego ZOO Safari Park. It's a one happy rhino. Rhino is such a big creature (about 1.5 tons in weight), but somehow looks very gracefully to me. I remember some Disney cartoons with rhinos dancing like ballerinas - that's exactly how I see them - large but graceful.
Unfortunately they are endangered species and it's only our fault, humans fault.
Rhinos are hunted and killed for their horns. The major demand for rhino horn is in Asia, where it is used in ornamental carvings and traditional medicine. Rhino horn is touted as a cure for hangovers, cancer, and impotence. Their horns are not true horns; they are actually made of keratin—the same material that makes up our hair and nails. Truly, rhino horn is as effective at curing cancer as chewing on your fingernails.
Below I gathered for you (from various websites) some interesting facts about rhinos:
Unfortunately they are endangered species and it's only our fault, humans fault.
Rhinos are hunted and killed for their horns. The major demand for rhino horn is in Asia, where it is used in ornamental carvings and traditional medicine. Rhino horn is touted as a cure for hangovers, cancer, and impotence. Their horns are not true horns; they are actually made of keratin—the same material that makes up our hair and nails. Truly, rhino horn is as effective at curing cancer as chewing on your fingernails.
Below I gathered for you (from various websites) some interesting facts about rhinos:
- The name rhinoceros means ‘nose horn’ and is often shortened to rhino.
- An adult rhino’s skin can be as much as 5 cm (2 inches) thick, with typical range of thickness across species being 1.5-5 cm thick.
- Rhinos have specialised upper lips, which is prehensile (capable of grasping) and are adapted for feeding from shrubs which it strips the leaves and shoots from.
- Rhino’s have 3 toes on each foot.
- Africa is home to both species of white, as well as the black, rhino, although the former isn’t white and the latter isn’t black (they’re really both grey or yellowish-grey, looking very similar).
- Rhinos have good hearing but not a very good eyesight.
- Rhino cannot sweat, so, similar to an elephant, it will roll in mud or dust to keep it cool and give it a protective coating of mud against biting insects.
- The oxpecker bird is a welcome passenger to the rhino as it picks parasitic ticks out of the rhino’s skin. The birds provide another valuable warning service to the rhino as it is known to screech loudly when humans approach.
- Black rhinos stop growing when about seven years old.
- The average life span for a rhino is 35 years.
- Rhinos communicate with squeaks, snorts and grunts (and poop).
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