AN ENDANGERED SPECIES: THE BLACK RHINO

THE BLACK RHINO

The species was first named Rhinoceros bicornis by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema naturae in 1758. The name means "double-horned rhinoceros".

Together with equids (horses, zebras and asses) and tapirs, rhinos are the only surviving members of an ancient and formerly diverse group of ungulates, which originated in the Eocene around 50 million years ago. The ancestors of the black and white rhinos reached Africa about 10 million years ago, at the end of the Miocene. The black rhino diverged from the white rhino between four and five million years ago, and is considered to be the more primitive of the two. It is the only species in the genus Diceros.

Main Features

The black rhino is smaller than the white rhino, although adults can still reach 1.5 metres in height and weigh in at 1.4 tonnes.

The species is distinguished from the white rhino by a prehensile upper lip (hence the alternative name of hook-lipped rhino), which it uses to feed on twigs of woody plants and a variety of herbaceous plants. They have a particular liking for acacias.




The front horn is the longer of the two horns, averaging 50cm in length.

Habitat &
 Diet

Most African rhinos are found in just four countries – South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya – where they mainly roam grassland and open savannah. 
These armoured giants are vegetarian and need to eat large amounts of food every day.


Causes of extinction

Poaching and lack of conservation have made a subspecies of Afica’s black rhino extinct.

Sources of information:

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/rhinoceros/african_rhinos/black_rhinoceros/

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/10/world/africa/rhino-extinct-species-report/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rhinoceros

http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=7 

Task #2 GLOSSARY:

THE BLACK RHINO

• Conjure up: to bring something such as a feeling or memory to your mind.
• Affectionate: having or showing fond feelings or affection; loving and tender.
• Panacea: a remedy for all ills or difficulties.
• Ailments: a physical disorder or illness, especially of a minor or chronic nature.
• Brink: a crucial or critical point, especially of a situation or state beyond which success or catastrophe occurs.
• Poaching: the illegal practice of trespassing on another's property to hunt or steal game without the landowner's permission.
• Teetering: To alternate, as between opposing attitudes or positions; vacillate/ to be close to or in danger of failure or ruin.
• Hence: as an inference from this fact; for this reason; therefore.
• Rebounded: to increase or improve after a recent decrease or decline.
• Ungulates: having hooves/ of or relating to the ungulates.