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Taxonomy-
Kingdom: Anamalia
Phylum: Chordate
Class: Mammalia
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Order: perissodactyla
Genus: Diceros
Species: D. Bicornis
Wooly Rhino (ancestor)
Evolution-
Subspecies: There are three different subspecies stemming from the Black Rhinoceros family.
-Southwestern black rhino (D. b. Bicornis)
-Eastern black rhino (D. b. Michaeli)
-South Central Black Rhino (D. b. Minor)
-Western Black Rhinos (D. b. Longipes)
-The black rhino has been in existence for around 50 million years.
-The closest living relative to the black rhino is the tapir.
-3 ancestors:
-Wooly Rhinocerous (extinct around 12,000 years ago) lived in Eurasia during the most recent ice age period
-Rhinocerotids lived in Eurasia, then spread to North America but ended up dying around 4million years after that relocation (they were a smaller species)
Tapir (Closest Living Relative)
Description-
-Physical description of rhino: They have dark grey or dark brown skin, not clack like people would assume them to have from their name. They have two horns on their nose, on is above the other one (like higher up on their face). They have skin folds near the top of their neck, along with short tails that have hair on the end, stumpy/short legs with hoofs, and fringed ears. They have big teeth, but no canines or incisors. Their skin is also hair less.
-Key Characteristics: The key characteristics of this species is the two horns that are on their face. The larger one is typically around 1.5 feet long. They are huge, heavy animals, with stocky looking bodies.
-Size: They are 114-148 inches long (9.5-12.3 ft) and stand from 55 inches (4.5 ft) to 71 inches (5.9 ft)
-Weight: The black rhino weighs 2,200-3970 pounds
-Life Span: They typically live anywhere from 35-50 years
-Males Vs. Females: The older females tend to have a swayed back compared to males. Other than this, they are pretty similar to one another. The males also tend to have a larger horn than the females do.
Day 2:
Habitat Description:
-They need around 17.7 inches of rainfall per year is what the black rhino needs in order to thrive.
-They are herbivores and need pants like acacia trees, and euphorbias in their habitat in order to survive.
-They are solitary animals, and typcially can be found alone, fending for themselves. (This changes during mating seasons) Within their habitat, the one animal they can be found interacting with is birds. This relationship is a mutual relationship. The birds are feeding off the insects living on their skin and back, and the rhinos are therefore cleansed of those insects.
-In terms of the perfect temperature, these animals can survive a wide range of temperatures. The most ideal is when it ranges from 75-85 degrees (Fahrenheight). They can survive in really cold temperatures as well, even below freezing, although this isn't ideal for their long term survival.
-The Black Rhino lives in grasslands, savannas, scrublands, and subtropical bush lands.
Distribution:
-Black Rhinos can be primarily found in Africa. Specifically in countries like Kenya, Namibia, and Zimbabwe
-This animal isn't considered invasive at all. They are on the list of highly endangered animals, in fact.
Diet-
-They eat leaves, twigs, and branches from smaller trees and bushes. They are herbivores and will eat a very divers diet consisting of what I mentioned above. Their specific diet depends on the amount of rainfall since that is a key determining factor of plant/food availability.
-They spend 1/3 of each day/night eating as they have to eat up to 3% of their total body mass in plants in order to survive.
-These animals use their strong lips to tear off plant matter from trees and bushes. Also, their horn can assist them in digging up things like roots, and shifting plants and soil if needed, in order to get to what they need to eat. They can also break branches off with their horns if needed.
Top Photo is showing the mutualistic relationship between birds and the Black Rhino and the bottom two are showing them in different habitats.
Day 3:
Social Structure:
-They prefer to live solo. They are herbivores, so they don't need eachother in the ways predators do (like hunting in packs). They can graze on their own. When they do create groups (typically after the baby is born), they are called crashes.
-Their primary role in the ecosystem/community is to graze. Grazing is beneficial because it keeps the environment well kept.
-When they do form crashes, which is a rare occurrence, they are led by the dominant male. These groups are composed of the female and her offspring, and the dominant male.
-There aren't a whole lot of interactions within the groups. Often times the males stay alone, while the females and the offspring go to watering holes. The female rhino is the primary care taker when the offspring are born. Crashes could also be a rare occurrence because these animals are polygamous.
Reproduction:
-Black Rhinos mate every 2-2.5 years. However, if the conditions aren't right, they can sometimes been seen waiting up to 4 years before mating again. They also mate year round (there's no primary mating season).
-Males will go off and mate with several females and therefore, the males aren't too overprotective of the females they have previously mated with.
-Like I mentioned previously, there isn't a primary mating season, meaning that they will mate when the conditions seem to be right.
-The female will spray their scents when they are ready to mate. The males then pick up on that scent. They will follow females around for a really long period of time. When the males finally approach the female, it's a slow, and heavy footed, dragging and very hopeful approach.
-The females, on average, only have one offspring per mating season (every 2-2.5 years).
-Sometimes the males and females will get into a physical fight over mating, This happens when the females initially reject the males. The males will try to persuade the females into mating with them.
Development:
-When they are first born, the black rhino baby, also called a calf, is already weighing in at 60 pounds. After 7-10 days of being born, they start to stray away from milk and eat solid foods. When they reach 2.5-3 years, they are independent and sometimes are forced away from their mothers if they have another calf that mating season that replaces them.
-Females reach maturity at age 3.5-4 years old. Males can take up to 6 years to reach maturity and will be fully grown after 8 years.
-They live with their mothers until they are independent enough to mov along, or until the mother as another baby. The mother rejects the eldest child (typically after 2.5 years) and they are forced to go live on their own. Like I have previously mentioned, they like to stay solitary, until it's time for them to go and mate.
-One difference is that males take longer to reach sexual maturity and oftentimes to reach their full size.
The top photo is a picture of a mother and her calf. The bottom is a diagram showing how large these animals are.
Day 4:
Causes of Death:
-Black Rhinos have no predators in the wild. The only animal that really affects them is us.
-Black Rhinos don't have much sexual competition. They don't die during the mating process, as they don't tend to have a lot of sexual competition in general. Typically there's one male who follows a singular female and males aren't typically found fighting each other over a female.
-In terms of health issues that these Rhinos face, they don't have any known diseases like other animals have. Instead, they face things like issues with insulin (because of their diet) and other issues with their metabolism.
-Other causes of death include poaching. Many humans illegally hunt these Rhinos for their horns. The horns are considered to be very valuable, and can be sold for thousands of dollars on the black markets. Additionally, they face habitat loss every year due to humans trying to log an area, thin their forests to build, or mining/extracting fossil fuels from that area.
Competition:
-Within the species, there aren't very many competitors. They live primarily on their own and don't face much sexual competition. Being as solitary as they are, they are pretty peaceful animals with not a lot of competition in general.
-Outside of their species, they compete for their environment with other animals like African Elephants. They might have to compete for grazing lands and food sources since they both feed on the same bushes and shrubs/trees.
-Like I have mentioned before, they primarily compete over things like food.
-They aren't really affected by any invasive species.
IUCN Rating:
-They are critically endangered animals.
-There are about 6,195 left in the wild.
-The species is working on making a comeback. It's been hard because of things like poaching, and climate change/habitat losses. But, it seems that they are starting to slowly repopulate. It can also be hard because they take so many years off in between mating, so when they start to decline, it's hard for them to come back and get out of the hole.
Impact of Humans:
-Things like climate change and habitat losses have already occured. When humans develop an area, the logging that takes place can have a huge impact on the grazing lands and trees they have available to eat. Also, the poaching that has taken place has taken a big hit on the population in general.
-Future impacts are things like even more developments. Also, when people go to mine out fossil fuels from areas around them, this can affect them. Future developments that produce pollution could also have a large impact on their lifestyle, as well as future poaching efforts. Even though its illegal, it's hard to stop poachers' efforts since there are so many people hunting them and not a whole lot of support pushing back against them.
-The main interactions that humans have with Rhinos is poaching. The illegal poaching efforts started back in the 1970s. When this started, around 96% of the entire population was wiped out by these hunters. In past decades, humans have used the horns as weapons in war.
-There are several different efforts being made. There are organizations that raise money to protect against poachers and support the efforts being made to keep them out of areas where they live. Law enforcement members are also involved and will go out and patrol areas that are notorious for ticks. Sometimes, when catching poachers, they will actually be shot at as they know the penalties are really large for being caught.
The top picture is a photo of a poached Rhino. The bottom is a picture of their habitat that has been logged and stripped of a lot of trees.
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