Rhino: Rhinoceros Main Article
The word rhinoceros is derived through Latin from the Ancient Greek: ῥῑνόκερως, which is composed of ῥῑνο- (rhino-, "nose") and κέρας (keras, "horn"). The plural in English is rhinoceros or rhinoceroses'. The collective noun for a group of rhinoceroses is crash or herd.[3]
The five living species fall into three categories. The two African species, the White Rhinoceros and the Black Rhinoceros, diverged during the early Pliocene (about 5 million years ago) but the Dicerotini group to which they belong originated in the middle Miocene, about 14.2 million years ago. The main difference between black and white rhinos is the shape of their mouths. White rhinos have broad flat lips for grazing and black rhinos have long pointed lips for eating foliage. A popular — if unverified — theory claims that the name White Rhinoceros was actually a mistake, or rather a corruption of the word wyd ("wide" in Afrikaans), referring to their square lips.[4]
White Rhinoceros are divided into Northern and Southern subspecies. There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the Indian Rhinoceros and the Javan Rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago. The Sumatran Rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (about 20 million years ago).[5] The extinct Woolly Rhinoceros of northern Europe and Asia was also a member of this tribe.
A subspecific hybrid white rhino (Ceratotherium s. simum × C. s. cottoni) was bred at the Dvůr Králové Zoo (Zoological Garden Dvur Kralove nad Labem) in the Czech Republic in 1977. Interspecific hybridisation of Black and White Rhinoceros has also been confirmed.[6]
All rhinoceros species have 82 chromosomes (diploid number, 2N, per cell), except the Black Rhinoceros, which has 84.
[edit]White Rhinoceros
These White Rhinoceros are actually gray.
Main article: White Rhinoceros
There are two subspecies of White Rhinos; as of 2005, South Africa has the
The five living species fall into three categories. The two African species, the White Rhinoceros and the Black Rhinoceros, diverged during the early Pliocene (about 5 million years ago) but the Dicerotini group to which they belong originated in the middle Miocene, about 14.2 million years ago. The main difference between black and white rhinos is the shape of their mouths. White rhinos have broad flat lips for grazing and black rhinos have long pointed lips for eating foliage. A popular — if unverified — theory claims that the name White Rhinoceros was actually a mistake, or rather a corruption of the word wyd ("wide" in Afrikaans), referring to their square lips.[4]
White Rhinoceros are divided into Northern and Southern subspecies. There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the Indian Rhinoceros and the Javan Rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago. The Sumatran Rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (about 20 million years ago).[5] The extinct Woolly Rhinoceros of northern Europe and Asia was also a member of this tribe.
A subspecific hybrid white rhino (Ceratotherium s. simum × C. s. cottoni) was bred at the Dvůr Králové Zoo (Zoological Garden Dvur Kralove nad Labem) in the Czech Republic in 1977. Interspecific hybridisation of Black and White Rhinoceros has also been confirmed.[6]
All rhinoceros species have 82 chromosomes (diploid number, 2N, per cell), except the Black Rhinoceros, which has 84.
[edit]White Rhinoceros
These White Rhinoceros are actually gray.
Main article: White Rhinoceros
There are two subspecies of White Rhinos; as of 2005, South Africa has the