The southern white rhinoceros is a large and powerful animal with extremely tough skin which helps to protect it from the sun. So it is no surprise that one of their nicknames is a pachyderm which is two Greek words: Thick and Skin.
Size
As most people know the Rhino is a huge mammal, in fact it is the 2nd largest land mammal in the world. Weighing at a whopping 1,800-2,700kg and with a length of 3-5m, I think it is clear that predators should stay away. Adding on to these incredible figures the height of the southern white is roughly 1.5-1.8m tall at the shoulder.
Location
Much of the rhinos population (98.8%) lives in only 4 countries in Africa: Southern Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The rest are vastly scattered across the grasslands of Botswana and Mozambique. Some of the habitats that these rhinos live in are temperate grasslands, forests and savannah. The reasons for this is because they prefer to graze in this places and it is easy to see predators on open ground.
Population
Rhinos are very iconic when you talk about threatened and endangered creatures, although there is a lot more than you might have heard. In fact their population is around 17,500 individuals which is more than all the other rhino subspecies combined. Although this is great news, they are still in decline despite the extreme efforts of conservation.
Rhinocerotidae Family Group
The southern white rhino is classed in the family group rhinocerotidae. This group is made up of only 5 species (all the others went extinct a long time ago), they are the white rhino, greater one horned rhino, black rhino, Javan rhino and Sumatran rhino. The southern white rhinoceros is actually a subspecies of white rhino, then cousins re a lot less known the northern white rhino which has a population of 2!!
Diet
Because of their huge size they have to consume an extortionate amount of vegetation each day. They actually have to eat a whopping 120 pounds of grass each day just to survive. Although they don’t just eat grass, these rhinos also eat a mixture of fruits and leaves. Another surprising thing about the rhinos is that they can survive around 5 days without water.
Predators
As there size is unbelievable when these creatures are adults they do not have any predators except humans although as calves it is very different. Calves are often predated by many African carnivores like lions and hyenas but they are usually completely protected by the calves mother. Luckily they stay with their mother and her crash (group of rhinos) until they are 2 years old (or more!).
Fun Facts
Did you know, despite their incredible size Southern white rhinos can run up to 40km (25mph) in short periods of time. They also wallow in the mud to stop sun burn but it doesn’t just act as rhino sun cream it also is an insect repellent.
At the moment there are great charities that are helping Rhinos to recover if you want to find out more about these conservation efforts have a look at these: International Rhino Foundation , Helping Rhinos , Save the Rhino
If you enjoyed reading about endangered animals you might enjoy reading about the Amur Tiger
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