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Reference Base  The mammals of the southern African subregion, new edition |
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| Title: |
The mammals of the southern African subregion, new edition |
| Author(s): |
Skinner, J.D.; Smithers, R.H.N. |
| Year published: |
1990 |
| Publisher: |
Pretoria, University of Pretoria |
| Volume: |
- |
| Pages: |
pp. i-xxxii, 1-771 |
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| File: |
View PDF: 1,4 mb |
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World
Behaviour - Senses
White Rhino
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| White rhinoceros have poor sight but acute senses of smell and hearing. They respond more readily to moving objects, which are only discerned at ranges of 10-25 m, than to those at rest. |
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Behaviour - Senses
White Rhino
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| White rhinoceros have poor sight but acute senses of smell and hearing. Owen-Smith (1973) recorded that when downwind, they respond with alertness to human scent at about 0,8 km, and continually investigate odours when moving. |
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Morphology
White Rhino
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| The colloquial name white rhinoceros is entrenched and originates from the name given to them by the early Dutch hunters, witte renoster, or in Afrikaans witrenoster, which was used to distinguish them from the black rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis. Barrow (1801/4), Harris (1852) and Selous (1908) ... |
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Morphology
White Rhino
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| At that time no European was aware that two species occurred in Africa and this species did not have a distinguishing name. Names differentiating the two species must have come into use towards the end of the 18th century, when the hunters and pioneers entered the area north of the Orange River ... |
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Behaviour - Fighting
Black Rhino
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| Although adult bulls are inclined to be aggressive towards other bulls, they deliberately tend to avoid contact. Serious fighting, however, does take place, especially between bulls over a female in oestrus, between bulls and cows, but rarely between cows. There is a higher mortality in males (... |
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Ecology - Interspecific Relations
Black Rhino
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| They normally give way to elephants, but aggressive encounters during drought conditions at waterholes with these and with buffaloes have been recorded. |
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Ecology - Interspecific Relations
Black Rhino
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| Both lions and spotted hyaenas have been reported as attacking adults, with the outcome usually in favour of the rhinoceros.
The cow will defend her young vigorously. Goddard (1966) witnessed a cow killing a lion in these circumstances. |
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Ecology - Interspecific Relations
White Rhino
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| Fork-tailed drongos, Dicrurus adsimilis, often hawk insects by flying along the sides of resting rhinoceros and frequently they are accompanied by red-billed oxpeckers, Buphagus erythrorhynchus, which remove ticks from their hides. Terrapins may also remove ticks while rhinoceros are wallowing i... |
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Behaviour - Daily Routine
White Rhino
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| During the summer months, white rhinoceros indulge in mud-wallowing or lying in muddy pools as a means of thermoregulation, but more especially for the purpose of coating the body with a layer of mud as a means of ridding themselves of ecto-parasites. Following mud-wallowing they will rub themse... |
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Morphology
White Rhino
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| Thick skin. The skin may reach a thickness of about 20 mm on the shoulders. The thick dermis covered with a thin laser of epidermis barely 1 mm thick. Scattered over the surface of the skin are sweat glands which, when the individual is under stress, exude droplets of sweat. Underlying the ski... |
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