 Reference Base  The Zoological Society (The death of two rhinoceroses; me... |
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Pocock, R.I., 1912. The Zoological Society (The death of two rhinoceroses; measurements of Indian rhinoceroses; some characters of rhinoceroses; the King's collection of Indian animals). Field 119 (3082), 20 January 1912: 143, figs. 1-5
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| Location: |
World |
| Subject: |
Anatomy - Glands |
| Species: |
All Rhino Species |
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On geographic grounds one would expect the Sumatran species to be more nearly related to the other Asiatic than to the African types. And this is the case. The better-known distinguishing points between the two categories of Asiatic species are supplied by the number of horns, the development of skin-folds, and the structure of the intestines; but these are supplemented by a negative character discovered by Messrs Beddard and Treves, namely, the absence in the Sumatran rhinoceros of the foot gland which was originally discovered by Owen in the Indian species, and was subsequently found in the Javan animal. This gland opens by a small orifice on a low eminence a little way above the heel in the middle of the back of the foot. The orifice leads into a comparatively narrow and short duct, which soon expands into an irregularly oval sac directed obliquely upwards and lying just beneath the skin. The gland and duct together do not measure more than about 2in. in length, and thev are invested in thick skin. In the Indian specimen which has just died, and which supplied the material for the annexed drawings, the sac of the gland contained some greenish waxy secretion with an unpleasant acid, cheesy smell. The position of the orifice of these glands on all four feet suggests that their secretion oozes on the surface of the soil, and enables one individual to track another by scent.
The orifice of this gland is placed suggestively near the spot corresponding to that occupied by the ergot in horses, and, despite the accepted view that the ergot is a sole of the foot, the possibility of its representing an aboted gland may be wisely borne in mind. Its general resemblance to the warts or chestnuts on the legs of horses which most authorities regard as degenarated glandular structures, is quite in keeping with this suggestion.
It has often been remarked that the anterior hoofs of horses, asses, and zebras are, as a rule at all events, markedly wider than the posterior, and in both the African and Indian rhinoceroses, whose footprints I took after death, the forefeet considerably exceeded the hind feet in width, owing to the larger size of the three hoofs, the middle one of the three corresponding, of course, to the single hoof of the horse. It is the relationship known to exist on other grounds between horses and rhinoceroses that gives an interest to this fact.
In the pages of the The Field and elsewhere I have alluded to the importance of physiological resemblances, such as are found in voice, odour, behaviour, and the like, between animals structurally akin to one another, and in connection with horses and rhinoceroses I noticed that, incredibly as it may seem, the light trot and swinging canter of our apparently unwieldy Indian rhinoceros when moving round his yard, irresistably recalled the same action in a running horse.
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