The black rhino is much smaller than the white rhino, and has a pointed mouth, which it uses to grasp leaves and twigs when feeding.ĭuring the latter half of the 20th century, their numbers were severely reduced from an estimated 70,000 in the late 1960s to a record low of 2,410 in 1995. Sometimes, a third smaller horn may develop. Two horns on the skull are made of keratin with the larger front horn typically 50 cm long, exceptionally up to 140 cm. An adult weighs from 850 to 1,600 kg (1,870 to 3,530 lb), exceptionally to 1,800 kg (4,000 lb), with the females being smaller than the males. The native Tswanan name keitloa describes a South African variation of the black rhino in which the posterior horn is equal to or longer than the anterior horn.Īn adult black rhinoceros stands 1.50–1.75 m (59–69 in) high at the shoulder and is 3.5–3.9 m (11–13 ft) in length. There are four subspecies of black rhino: South-central ( Diceros bicornis minor), the most numerous, which once ranged from central Tanzania south through Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to northern and eastern South Africa South-western ( Diceros bicornis occidentalis) which are better adapted to the arid and semi-arid savannas of Namibia, southern Angola, western Botswana and western South Africa East African ( Diceros bicornis michaeli), primarily in Tanzania and West African ( Diceros bicornis longipes) which was declared extinct in November 2011. This can be confusing, as the two species are not truly distinguishable by color. The name "black rhinoceros" ( Diceros bicornis) was chosen to distinguish this species from the white rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum).
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