About..

Rhino

Most people call them rhino, but their full name is rhinoceros. Just like many other names/words this is derived from the Greeks.

Rhin means nose and keras means horn, so rhinoceros translated into nose-horn, which is funny as the Dutch call them neushoorns (nose-horns). 

There are 2 species of Rhino in Africa, White and Black. The Dutch are also responsible for the black and white names in the rhino species. 

Africa is home to black rhino and white rhino. Despite their names, they are neither white or black, but grey... their names came from a language issue when the Dutch met the English and told them about the wijd (wide) rhino. The English heard 'white' and named them black and white.

The Dutch were trying to point out that the mouth of the white rhino is very wide (wijd) compared to the black rhino's more narrow mouth. The English just took it as black and white and from that moment on we had black and white rhinoceros...

White rhino are grazers, they eat mostly grass, that's why they have a wide mouth.

Black rhino are browsers and eat from bushes and trees, so their mouth is more pointy..

Both have a very keen sense of smell and hearing, but poor vision.

The two rhino species also differ in size, an adult white rhino can weigh up to 2500kg/5500lbs (with some even larger exceptions), while a black rhino doesn't usually go over 1350kg/3000lbs.

The black rhino tends to be aggressive, while the white rhino has a more calm nature. 

Black and white rhino live in different areas (with overlapping area). The one being a browser and the other a grazer, means that don't eat the same food. They both have to look for food in slightly different areas. White rhino need open plains with lots of grass, while the black rhino needs bushes and trees.

Unfortunately, poaching for Rhino horn has taken a major toll on Rhino population..

According to the International Rhino Foundation .. 

WHITE RHINO

White rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) are the most populous of the five rhino species with approximately 15,752 animals across 11 countries in Africa. There are two white rhino subspecies, southern (C.s. simum) and northern (C.s. cottoni), but as there are only two northern white rhinos left in the world – both females – that subspecies is considered functionally extinct. Historically as a species, white rhinos made an incredible comeback from fewer than 100 individuals in the early 1900s to more than 21,000 at the end of 2012.

Unfortunately, from 2012 to 2021, their large numbers made them the primary target for  poachers, who sell rhino horn on the black market. During this period, white rhino numbers decreased by 24% to an estimated 15,942. Although the number of rhino deaths annually has decreased since the most recent peak in 2015, poaching remains the biggest threat to rhinos, and white rhinos in particular bear the brunt. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission’s African Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG) recently announced another 9.8% decrease for white rhinos, bringing their species estimate to 15,752 as of August 2025.

BLACK RHINO

Black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) can currently be found in 12 countries in Africa, totalling an estimated 6,788 individuals. The black rhino population is made up of three subspecies, including approximately 2,636 south-western (D.b. bicornis); 2,720 southern (D.b. minor) and 1,471 eastern (D.b. michaeli). A fourth subspecies, the western black rhino (D.b. longipes), was declared extinct in 2011; its last evidence of existence was in Cameroon in 2006.

Black rhino populations suffered a drastic decline at the end of the 20th century. Between 1970 and 1993, the population of black rhinos decreased by 96% from approximately 65,000 to only 2,300 surviving in the wild. Since 1996, intense anti-poaching efforts and strategic translocations to safer areas have allowed the species to slowly recover. Poaching still looms as the greatest threat.

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