 Reference Base  Further observations on the Great Indian one-horned rhino... |
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Gee, E.P., 1953. Further observations on the Great Indian one-horned rhinoceros (R. unicornis Linn.). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 51 (4): 765-772, pls. 1-2
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| Location: |
World |
| Subject: |
Behaviour - Social Behaviour |
| Species: |
Indian Rhino |
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I myself was present at the capture in 1949 of a young female rhino, caught in a pit for the Cairo Zoo. It uttered deafening cries, to be answered by its mother in the distance. During the last cold weather in Kaziranga some interesting obser- vations go to show that a whistling noise is made by rhino at the time of courtship, probably by the female. In the afternoon of 3-2-1953 E. R. Dungan observed for half an hour a pair of rhino at Laodhubi Bheel playing and courting. One was whistling and the other was snorting - he could not be certain which sex was making which noise, but thinks that the male was doing the snorting and the female the whistling. Again at Mihimukh in the early morning of 13-2-1953 he saw another pair chasing each other, whistling and snorting. A theory has been advanced (S. Dillon Ripley, 1952) that when the urge to mate comes on, rhino take to wandering - the whistling sound being a 'recognition' sign between physiologically-attuned members of the opposite sex. But the cases of whistling noises reported to me and described above occurred only during the courting stage, and appear to have been made by only one sex, the other sex making the snorting noises. Further observation on this point is needed.
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