Renshaw, G., 1904. Natural history essays. London and Manchester, Sherratt and Hughes, pp. i-xv, 1-218
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| Location: |
World |
| Subject: |
Morphology - Horn |
| Species: |
White Rhino |
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The anterior horn of the white rhinoceros shows great individual differences of curvature: two well marked types may be recognised.
The first type (mohohu) is the commoner: the horn is curved backwards.
The second type (kabaoba) is directed forwards, so that the anterior surface is often much worn by repeated contact with the ground when its owner grazes: this is well seen in the type kabaoba horn which Col. Steele presented to the British Museum many years ago. The kabaoba was long described as a separate species under the name of Rhinoceros oswellii, but this distinction is now abandoned, as intermediate forms between the two have been observed.
* The forward inclination of the anterior horn is not however confined to the white rhinoceros. The example of the black species in the Berlin Zoological Gardens has the front horn pointing forwards an angle of 45 degrees. On the other hand the black rhinoceros which died in London in 1891 had the anterior horn vertical; one thus has 'mohohu' and 'kabaoba' forms in both species.
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