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| Location: |
Captive - Africa |
| Subject: |
Behaviour - Daily Routine |
| Species: |
White Rhino |
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In nature the White Rhinoceros has the habit of defecating in definite spots. Large heaps of manure are met within the Umfolozi Reserve, and the rangers in Zululand state that the animals scatter these heaps with their horns. In Pretoria I have never seen them make any attempt to do this after defaecation, but they make alternate backward scraping movements with the hind-limbs after defecation or sometimes before the act is completed. Some of these movements may result in channels in the heap of manure. When I first saw this in the case of baby Zuluana, I thought that she was trying to scrape soil over the droppings. Whatever the purpose of these scraping movements may be, it is clear that they are not made in order to cover the faeces with soil.
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White rhinos at Pretoria Zoo
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