 Reference Base  The mammals of the southern African subregion, new edition |
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World |
| Subject: |
Morphology |
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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) used the name wit or white, so it has been in use for nearly 200 years. In spite of this, both C. simum and D. bicornis are grey, and they are inclined to assume the colour of the soil on which they live through mudwallowing and dusting.
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