Dictionary of Meaning
<<Back
Please select a letter:
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
U |
V |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |
0-9
Click here for Shopping
Rhinoceros
*** Shopping-Tip: Rhinoceros
{{otheruses}}
{{Taxobox
| color = pink
| name = Rhinoceroses
| image = Rhino-216.jpg
| image_caption =
Black Rhinoceros, ''Diceros bicornis''
| regnum =
Animalia
| phylum =
Chordata
| classis =
Mammalia
| ordo =
Perissodactyla
| familia = '''Rhinocerotidae'''
| familia_authority =
John Edward Gray Gray, 1821
| subdivision_ranks =
Genus Genera
| subdivision =
''
Ceratotherium''
''
Dicerorhinus''
''
Diceros''
''
Rhinoceros (genus) Rhinoceros''
''
Woolly Rhinoceros Coelodonta (extinct)
''
Elasmotherium (extinct)''
}}
The '''rhinoceros''' (commonly called '''rhino''' for short) is any of five surviving species of
odd-toed ungulates in the
family (biology) family '''Rhinocerotidae'''. All five species are native to
Africa or
Asia. '''''Rhinoceros''''' is also one of the genera in this family.
The family is characterised by: large size (one of the few remaining
megafauna animals surviving today) with all of the species capable of reaching one
tonne or more in weight; one or two
Horn (anatomy) horns on the centre of the forehead, and when two, aligned one in front of the other (not side by side);
herbivore herbivorous diet; and a thick protective skin, 1.5-5 cm thick, formed from layers of
collagen positioned in a
lattice structure. Rhinoceros also share acute hearing and sense of smell, but poor eyesight over any distance. Most rhinoceros live to be about 40 years old. A male rhinoceros is called a bull, a female a cow, and the young a calf; a group of rhinoceros is called a "crash".
Family
'''Family Rhinocerotidae'''
*''Ceratotherium''
**''C. simum'' -
White Rhinoceros
*''Dicerorhinus''
**''D. sumatrensis'' -
Sumatran Rhinoceros
*''Diceros''
**''D. bicornis'' -
Black Rhinoceros
*''Rhinoceros''
**''R. unicornis'' -
Indian Rhinoceros
**''R. sondaicus'' -
Javan Rhinoceros
*''Coelodonta''
**''C. antiquitatis'' -
Woolly Rhinoceros (extinct)
*''
Elasmotherium''
**''E. sibiricum'' - Giant Rhinoceros (extinct)
Image:Indian Rhinoceros.jpg right|thumb|250px|The Indian Rhinoceros
Several rhinoceros
species became extinct within geologically recent times, notably the
Elasmotherium Giant Unicorn and the
Woolly Rhinoceros in
Eurasia; the extent to which climate change or human predation was responsible is debated. Current evidence indicates that they probably had survived many climate changes when modern man arrived.
Rhinoceros-like animals first appeared in the
Eocene as rather slender animals, and by the late
Miocene there were many different species. Most were large. One,
Baluchitherium Indricotherium weighed about 30 tons and (so far as is known) was the largest terrestrial
mammal that ever lived. Rhinos became extinct during the
Pliocene in
North America, and during the
Pleistocene in northern Asia and
Europe.
The five living species fall into three tribes.
#The critically endangered
Sumatran Rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (abut 20 million years ago). The extinct Woolly Rhinoceros of northern Europe and Asia was also a member of this tribe.
#There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the endangered
Indian Rhinoceros and the critically endangered
Javan Rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago.
#The two African species, the
White Rhinoceros and the
Black Rhinoceros, diverged during the early Pliocene (about 5 million years ago) but the Dicerotini group to which they belong originated in the middle Miocene, about 14 million years ago. The main difference between black and white rhinos is the shape of their lips. White rhinos have broad flat lips for grazing and black rhinos have long pointed lips for eating foliage. The name White Rhinoceros was actually a mistake for ''wyd'' (wide) because of their lips.
A subspecific hybrid white rhino (''Ceratotherium s. simum'' × ''C. s. cottoni'') was bred at the Dvurkralv Zoo (Zoological Garden Dvur Kralove nad Labem) in the Czech Republic in 1977.
Hybrid#Interspecific hybrids Interspecific hybridisation of a Black and White rhinoceros has also been confirmed.
Rhinoceros horn
The most obvious distinguishing characteric of the rhinos is a large horn above the nose. The word ''rhinoceros'' comes from the
Greek language Greek words ''rhino'' (nose) and ''keros'' (horn). Rhinoceros horns, unlike those of other horned mammals, consist of
keratin, densely compacted
hair.
Rhinoceros horns are used in traditional Asian medicine, and for dagger handles in
Yemen and
Oman. None of the five rhinoceros species have secure futures; the
White Rhinoceros is perhaps the least endangered, the
Javan Rhinoceros survives in only tiny numbers (estimated at 60 animals in 2002) and is one of the two or three most endangered large mammals anywhere in the world.
Rhino protection campaigns began in the
1970s, but rhino populations have continued to decline dramatically. Trade in rhinoceros parts is forbidden under the
CITES agreements, but poaching is a severe threat to all rhinoceros species.
Legends
Image:Rhinoceros Sculpture, Biological Sciences Building, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.JPG thumb|right|300px|Rhinoceros sculpture, Biological Sciences Building, [[Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.]]
There are a number of legends about rhinoceroses stamping out fire. The story seems to have been common in Malaysia and Burma.
This type of rhinoceros even had a special name in
Malay language Malay, 'badak api', where badak means rhinoceros and api means fire. The animal would come when a fire is lit in the forest and stamp it out.
Whether or not there is any truth to this has not yet been proven, as there has been no documented sighting of this phenomenon in recent history. This lack of evidence may stem from the fact that rhinoceros sightings overall in South East Asia have become very rare, largely due to widespread illegal
poaching of the critically endangered animal.
The idea of rhinos stamping out fire featured prominently in the movie
The Gods Must Be Crazy and also in an episode of
The Simpsons
References
*Chapman, Jan. 1999. ''The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China''. Christies Books, London. ISBN 0903432579.
*Laufer, Berthold. 1914. "History of the Rhinoceros." In: ''Chinese Clay Figures, Part I: Prolegomena on the History of Defence Armor''. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, pp. 73-173.
-
Rhinoceros skin and horn characteristics (pdf file)
*{{cite journal|first=Terry J.|last=Robinson|coauthors=V. Trifonov, I. Espie, E.H. Harley|year=2005|month=01|title=Interspecific hybridisation in rhinoceroses: Confirmation of a Black × White rhinoceros hybrid by karyotype, fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and microsatellite analysis|journal=Conservation Genetics|volume=6|issue=1|pages=141-145|id={{doi|10.1007/s10592-004-7750-9}}|url=http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s10592-004-7750-9}}
External links
-
International Rhino Foundation
-
SOS Rhino
-
Save The Rhino
-
Rhinoceros entry on
WWF website.
Category:Odd-toed ungulates
Category:Rhinos *
Category:Big Five Game
af:Renoster
ar:ÙˆØيد القرن
bg:Ð?оÑ?орози
cs:NosorožcovitÃ
de:Nashörner
es:Rhinocerotidae
eo:Rinocero
fr:Rhinocéros
gl:Rhinocerotidae
ko:코뿔소
io:Rinocero
it:Rhinocerotidae
he:×§×¨× ×¤×™×™×?
nl:Neushoorns
ja:サイ
no:Neshorn
pl:Nosorożce
pt:Rinoceronte
simple:Rhinoceros
sr:Ð?оÑ?орог
su:Badak
fi:Sarvikuonot
sv:Noshörningar
vi:H� Tê giác
zh:犀科
*** Shopping-Tip: Rhinoceros
