December 2017: White Rhinoceros

	Scientific Name	Ceratotherium simum
	Alternate Name	Bull (Male), Cow (Female), Square-Lipped Rhinoceros/Rhino, White Rhino, Wide-Lipped Rhinoceros/Rhino
	Collective Name	Crash, Stubbornness

Africa

Savanna, Shrubland, Grassland

		1.7-2.8 m.	5.5-9.3 ft.		1,000-3,355 kg.	2,205-7,397 lb.
		3.35-3.76 m.	11-12.33 ft.		27-50 yr.

			Near Threatened		Social		Diurnal
			Increasing		Polygynandrous		Herbivore
Fore	Hind

2 Subspecies
		C. s. cottoni	Southern
		C. s. simum	Northern

The white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum,) or square-lipped rhinoceros, is the second largest land mammal on the planet. Distinguished from the black rhinoceros by its wide, flat lip, the white rhino is perfectly built for grazing upon grasses and leaves while holding its face parallel to the earth. Two subspecies are recognized, the Southern White Rhino, (C. s. simum,) with populations in southern Africa listed as “Near Threatened” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, and the Northern White Rhino, (C. s. cottoni,) a “Critically Endangered” variation nearly extinct in the wild.

FaunaFacts | Free-For-All

MEDIA

Diana Robinson

Martin Heigan

© Fyre Mael, Some Rights Reserved (CC BY 2.0)

Cloudtail the Snow Leopard

Fyre Mael

Art G.

Art G.

Dennis Jarvis

Mike Davison

Paul Baker

Matthias Mullie

SkepticalView

Fyre Mael

Lawrence Lew

Bill Jones Jr.

Charles Chuck Peterson

Gerry Zambonini

Glen Carrie

Derrick Story

Gimli

Fyre Mael

Josh More

Kevin Folk

Phil Newberry

Vaughn Wright

Fyre Mael

Fyre Mael

Ronald Gijezen

Joel Herzog

Daniel Ramirez

Simon Greenwood

Ashes Sitoula

Fyre Mael

REFERENCES

• Ammann, K. (2012). The Rhino and the bling.
  • (2016, July-September). China, ivory, and wishful thinking. SWARA, 21-23.
• Brett, R. A. (1993, May). Conservation strategy and management plan for the black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) in Kenya (5th ed.). Rhino Conservation Programme. Kenya Wildlife Service.
• Carey, J. R. & Judge, D. S. (2000). Longevity Records: Life Spans of Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Fish (Vol. #8). Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press. ..
• Dulal, D. (2017). “Ceratotherium simum“. Animal Diversity Web.
• Durrheim, D. N. & Leggat, P. A. (1999). Risk to tourists posed by wild mammals in South Africa. Journal of Travel Medicine, 6(3), 172-179.
• Dzirutwe, M. & Ireland, L. (2016, June 28). Zimbabwe’s wildlife agency suspends boss over missing rhino horns. Reuters.
• Emslie, R. H. (2012). Ceratotherium simum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012: e.T4185A16980466.
• Emslie, R. H. & Brooks, M. (1999). African Rhino: Status Survey and Action Plan. Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
• Emslie, R. H., Milledge, S., Brooks, M., van Strien, N. J., & Dublin, H. (2007). African and Asian rhinoceroses – Status, conservation and trade. A report from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups and TRAFFIC to the CITES Secretariat pursuant to decisions 13.23-25 taken at the 13th meeting of the conference of the parties, and further deliberations at the 53rd and 54th meetings of the standing committee.
• Emslie, R. H., Milliken, T., Talukdar, B., Ellis, S., Adcock, K., & Knight, M. H. (2016, July). African and Asian rhinoceroses – Status, conservation and trade. A report from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups and TRAFFIC to the CITES secretariat pursuant to resolution conf. 9.14 (Rev. CoP15).
• Estes, R. D. (1991). The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primtates (20th ed.). Berkeley, Los Angeles, CA & London, England: The University of California Press.
• Ferreira, S. M., Greaver, C., Knight, G. A., Knight, M. K., Smit, I. P. J., & Pienaar, D. (2015, June 29). Disruption of rhino demography by poachers may lead to population declines in Kruger National Park, South Africa. PLOS One, 10(6), 1-18.
• Govender, D. Oosthuisen, M. C., & Penzhorn, B. L. (2011). Piroplasm parasites of white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum) in the Kruger National Park, and their relation to anaemia. Journal of the South African Veterinary Association, 82(1), 36-40.
• Groves, C. P. (1972, June 16). Ceratotherium simum. Mammalian Species, 8, 1-6.
• Groves, C. P., Fernando, P., & Robovsky, J. (2010, April 7). The sixth rhino: A taxonomic re-assessment of the critically endangered northern white rhinoceros. PLOS ONE, 5(4), 1-15.
• Higginbotham, A. (2014, January 2). The Irisih clan behind Europe’s rhino-horn theft epidemic. Bloomberg Businessweek.
• Hongqiao, L. (2015, November 27). Trafficking market goes wild in Vietnam. Oxpeckers.
• Karimi, F. (2017, March 3). With 1 male left worldwide, northern white rhinos under guard 24 hours. Cable News Network (CNN).
• Koopmans, F. (2012, June). Datasheet African rhinos. World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
• Mabunda, L. (2014, March 17). Hunting season. Quora.
• McKie, R. (2016, May 14). Down to the last three: can science save northern white rhino from extinction?. The Guardian.
• Milliken, T., Emslie, R. H., & Talukdar, B. (2009, November 20). African and Asian rhinoceroses – Status, conservation and trade: A report from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups and TRAFFIC to the CITES secretariat  pursuant to resolution conf. 9.14 (Rev. CoP14) and decision 14.89. CITES.
• N/a’an ku sê Foundation. White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). N/a’an ku sê.
• Nowak, R. M. (1999). Walker’s Mammals of the World (6 ed., Vol. 2). Baltimore: MD: John Hopkins University Press.
• Otiende, M. Y., Kivata, M. W., Makumi, J. N., Mutinda, M. N., Okun, D., Kariuki, L., Obanda, V., Gakuya, F., Mijele, D., Soriguer, R. C., & Alasaad, S. (2015). Epidemiology of Theileria bicornis among black and white rhinoceros metapopulation in Kenya. BioMed Central Veterinary Research, 11(4), 1-7.
• Penzhorn, B. L., Krecek, R. C., Horak, I. G., Verster, A. J. M., Walker, J. B., Boomker, J. D. F., Knapp, S. E., & Quandt, S. K. F. (1994, September 9-10). Parasites of African rhinos: A documentation. Proceedings of a Symposium on “Rhinos as Game Ranch Animals”, Onderstepoort, 169-175.
• Pienaar, D. J. (1994, September 9-10). Social organization and behavior of the white rhinoceros. In B. L. Prenzhorn & N. P. J. Kriek (Eds.), Proceedings of a Symposium on Rhinos as Game Ranch Animals (pp. 87-92). Onderstepoort, Republic of South Africa: Wildlife Group South African Veterinary Association.
• Rachlow, J. L. & Berger, J. (1997, February). Conservation implications of patterns of horn regeneration in dehorned white rhinos. Conservation Biology, 11(1), 84-91.
• Rachlow, J. L., Berkeley, E. V., & Berger, J. (1998). Correlates of male mating strategies in white rhinos (Ceratotherium Simum). Journal of Mammalogy, 19(4), 1317-1324.
• Rhino. Wild for Life.
• Rookmaaker, L. C., Jones, M. L., Kloes, H. G., & Reynolds, R. J. (1998). The rhinoceros in captivity: A list of 2439 rhinoceroses kept from Roman times to 1994. The Hague, The Netherlands: SPB Academic Publishing bv.
  
• Sidney, J. B.Sc. (1965). The past and present distribution of some African ungulates. Transactions of The Zoological Society of London, 30, 51-70.
• Skinner, J. D. & Chimimba, C. T. (2006). The mammals of the southern African subregion (3rd ed.). Cape Town, South Africa: Cambridge University Press.
• van der Merwe, P. & Saayman, M. (2003). Determining the economic value of game farm tourism. Koedoe, 46(2), 103-112.
• Waldram, M. S., Bond, W. J., & Stock, W. D. (2008). Ecological engineering by a mega-grazer: White rhino impacts on a South African savanna. Ecoysystems, 11(1), 101-112.Weigl, R., M. Jones. 2005. Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; From the Living Collections of the World. Stuttgart, Germany: Kleine Senckenberg-Reihe. Weigl, R., M. Jones. 2005. Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; From the Living Collections of the World. Stuttgart, Germany: Kleine Senckenberg-Reihe. Weigl, R., M. Jones. 2005. Weig. Stuttgart, Germany: Kleine Senckenberg-Reihe.
• Weigl, R. & Jones, M. (2005). Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; From the Living Collections of the World. Stuttgart, Germany: Kleine Senckenberg-Reihe.
• White Rhinoceros. Mpala Live!
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF). (2011, November 4). Saving the rhinos.