African Rhino Information

The name rhinoceros is derived from the Greek word rhinokerōs, meaning “nose-horned”, although commonly abbreviated to rhino. There are now only five extant species of rhino left, two of the extant species are native to Africa and three to Southern Asia.

African Rhino Species

Rhinos are some of the largest remaining megafauna, with the species growing to reach or exceed one tonne in weight. The African rhino species have two horns with a thick protective skin.  They are herbivores, eating either grass (mainly the white rhino) or trees and bushes (mainly the black rhino) but unlike other animals that live in the same habitat, the two African species of rhinoceros lack teeth at the front of their mouths and instead rely on their lips to pluck food.

White rhinoceros

This species of rhino is not called a ‘white rhinoceros’ due to their colouring lime many assume - the name is derived from a distortion of the Afrikaans word ‘wyd’ or Dutch word ‘wijd’ which means ‘wide’ and refers to the square lips that the mammal uses to graze on grass.

There are two subspecies of white rhinoceros:

Northern White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) - This species is critically endangered, and the last known male Northern White Rhino, Sudan, died in March 2018. To our knowledge, there are only two females left and round-the-clock armed guards protect them.   

Southern White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) - This species has a wild population of between 19,000 - 21,085, making them the least endangered rhino subspecies in the world.

Weight: Males are between 1,800 and 2,500kg and Females are between 1,800 and 2,000kg.

Shoulder Height: Between 1.5m and 2m.

Horn: Two horns, the front horn is generally 35 - 150cm long and is larger than the second horn.

Black rhinoceros

This species is called a ‘black rhinoceros’ to distinguish it from the white rhinoceros. The two species are not generally distinguishable by colour but by their size and shape of their mouth. The white rhino is larger than the black rhino and has a square lip. The black rhino has a more pointed mouth, which it uses to grasp leaves and twigs to feed.

There are four subspecies of black rhinoceros:

South-Central Rhino (Diceros bicornis minor) - This subspecies has the highest numbers of the black rhino species and can be found across central Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, through to northern and eastern South Africa.

Southwestern Rhino (Diceros bicornis occidentalis) - This subspecies has adapted to the arid and semi-arid savannas of Namibia, southern Angola, western Botswana and western South Africa.

East African Rhino (Diceros bicornis michaeli) - This subspecies is mainly found in Tanzania.

West African Rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) - Unfortunately this subspecies was declared extinct in November 2011.

Weight: Between 850 and 1,800kg with the females being slightly smaller than the males.

Shoulder Height: Between 1.5 to 1.75m.

Horn: Two horns, the front horn is generally 50 - 140cm long and is larger than the second horn.