White Rhinoceros

White Rhinoceros - Great Grazer

Perhaps the first thing people wonder about the white rhinoceros is why it has its name. It is certainly not white in colour and actually has the same skin tone as its cousin, the black rhino. In fact, the name is thought to have been derived from the Dutch word "weid" meaning "wide" in reference to the animal's broad, wide mouth.

Grazer of grass

It is in the shape of the mouth that the black and white rhino species differ so markedly, and this determines their diet. The white rhino is a grazer of grass, whereas the black rhino uses its pointed prehensile upper lip to browse on leaves .

Second largest land mammal

The white rhinoceros is the second largest land mammal in Africa in terms of its dimensions, although the hippo may often be heavier. Male white rhinos average over 2 000kg, while females are smaller at around 1 600kg. (Hippos can weigh up to 3 200kg, while the white rhino rarely exceeds 2 200kg.)

Home range and territory

Adult females live in overlapping home ranges and are rarely solitary. Mature females are usually accompanied by their most recent offspring, and frequently associate with other females from the area. Aggregations of a dozen or more may gather, particularly in the heat of the day when shade or a cooling breeze is sought out.

Males are much less sociable and occupy well-patrolled territories with numerous conspicuous dung middens (females and immatures may add their own dung to a male's midden, but do not engage in the male's characteristic kicking and urine spraying)

Females give birth to their first young at an age of about seven years, after a 16-month gestation period. Weaning occurs at about one year, but the calf remains with its mother for two to three years, when the female is again ready to bear a new baby. Interestingly, (and in contrast to the black rhino) the juvenile white rhino always runs ahead of its mother when fleeing from danger. Other than man, the rhino has no natural enemies, although lion and spotted hyena are a potential threat to youngsters.

Back from the brink

Hundreds of years ago, thousands upon thousands of white rhino would have occurred in the grasslands and savannahs of Southern Africa. Wherever there was grass to eat and water to drink, there would have been rhinos. The area of present day Johannesburg in South Africa would have provided ideal habitat for hundreds of these great pachyderms, with its sweet grasses, wooded kloofs (valleys) and perennial water.

One can only imagine the wildlife spectacle that endured before humans developed the ability to hunt and then plunder. Quite how many rhinos were left when the first white settlers arrived on the scene around 200 years ago is uncertain, but wildlife had little aesthetic value in those days, and almost anything was considered fair game to be shot on sight.

Just eighty years after having been "discovered" (near present-day Kuruman) and named by William Burchell in 1817, the white rhino had been hunted so excessively in South Africa and beyond, that just 30 individuals remained in a small corner of Zululand. After the establishment of the Umfolozi Game Reserve in 1897, however, its numbers slowly increased so that by the 1960s, surplus animals were translocated to other reserves so as to ensure the conservation of the species. The Natal Parks Board can rightly claim to have saved this great creature from extinction. Since 1960, over 3 000 white rhino have been released from Umfolozi-Hluhluwe into reserves such as Mkuze, Kruger, Pilanesberg, Phinda Private Game Reserve, Waterberg and Madikwe Safari Lodge. Many of these have subsequently sold rhino offspring to smaller sanctuaries.

Outside of South Africa, small numbers occur in the Matopos near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and the Khama Rhino sanctuary near Gaborone, Botswana, but attempts to reintroduce the species to Chobe in Botswana failed due to uncontrolled poaching.

Sadly, the so-called Northern white rhino (a sub-species of the southern white rhino) is all but extinct and the status of the remaining handful of individuals is uncertain (it formerly occurred in Uganda-Zaire-Sudan, and possibly in Tanzania and Kenya). The current status of the southern white rhinoceros seems to be secure, with over 5 000 living individuals. However, the security of the white rhino is dependent on continued and rigorous protection, as well as the maintenance of its CITES Appendix 1 status, which prohibits trade in its horn.

Which is larger, more fearsome and most endangered?

Comparisons are often drawn between Africa's two rhino species. Which is the larger, which is the most fearsome, and which is the most endangered? The lumbering white rhino can easily lay claim to being the larger - males may weigh up to 2 300kg, as opposed to 1 100kg of the black. However, there is no doubt that the black rhino has the more uncertain temperament. The population of white rhino is considered to be more secure than that of the black, although it is more or less confined to South Africa.

Where to see white rhino at CCAfrica properties

Superb white rhino viewing is possible at several CCAfrica lodges in South Africa, with Phinda Mountain Lodge, Phinda Forest Lodge and Londolozi Private Game Reserve providing excellent opportunities to view and photograph these giant animals. Less-predictable viewing is also had at Bongani and Ngala, but the rhinos here are shyer and more wary of game-viewing vehicles.

Further reading
Estes, R.D. 1991. The Behaviour Guide to African Mammals. Russel Friedman Books,
Halfway House, South Africa.Mpanza, D. & Naylor, S. 1999. "Survey and Monitoring of White Rhino at Phinda".
In: Ecological Journal 1, CCAfrica, Benmore, South Africa. Player, I.1972. The White Rhino Saga. Collins, Glasgow, Scotland.
Roche, C. 2000a. "Seasonal Landscape Preferences of the White Rhinoceros in the Southern Timbavati".
In: Ecological Journal 2, CCAfrica, Benmore, South Africa.

Roche, C. 2000b. "Notes on Territory and Home Range Size of White Rhinoceros in the Southern Timbavati".
In: Ecological Journal 2, CCAfrica, Benmore, South Africa.

Posted: Mammals by CC Africa, Date: 21 November 2006