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The Black Rhinoceros is facing extinction because of its signature feature, two large horns.
Imagine having a lip that you could use like a hand! The Black Rhino uses this lip to browse from trees such as acacias.
The Black Rhinoceros has two horns, which it uses for attack and defence. It is very protective of its territory, which it marks by spraying urine and stamping in its faeces, depositing the scent with each footstep. Its poor vision, however, means that a motionless person can stand upwind as close as 30m undetected.
Spending most of its time on its own, the Black Rhino likes to wallow in mud or water. This provides it with an opportunity to escape the heat, the sun and biting insects.
Taronga Western Plains Zoo has successfully bred 11 calves with the most recent being born on the 17th of February, 2010. Taronga Western Plains Zoo is also involved with reproduction research in conjunction with the Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) and through this collaboration have created the world’s first Black Rhino embryo using in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Distribution & Habitat
There are four sub-species of Black Rhinoceros found on the African continent. The sub-species at Taronga Western Plains Zoo originally occupied a much greater range than its current distribution, including Namibia, southern Angola, western Botswana and south-western and south-eastern Africa. Unfortunately their range today is more limited, covering just Namibia and South Africa.
Black Rhinceros are found in a variety of habitat types across their range including deserts, wet forests, savannahs, shrubland, bushland and tropical and sub-tropical grasslands.
Breeding
Black Rhinoceros can breed throughout the year. After a gestation period of approximately 15 months, a single calf is born. Within 30 minutes of being born, the 40kg calf is usually up and walking around. The calf remains with its mother until a subsequent calf is born, which is usually within 2-4 years. It does take some time for Black Rhinoceros to reach sexual maturity. Females are mature at 4-6 years, whereas in males sexual maturity is reached at 7-9 years.
Courtship behaviour includes urine spraying and dung scraping. The female sprays urine backwards onto a dung pile to advertise that she is in oestrus. The male that picks up this signal, usually then covers it by spraying his own urine over the top. This makes it difficult for other males to detect it, as males will fight over females. Females tend to choose the most dominant male attempting to court her. As Black Rhinos tend to be solitary, this behaviour from the females is very important to achieve reproductive success. Males then begin following the females around. Sometimes this results in peaceful interactions, on other occassions the male and female will snort, shake their head and even butt heads together.
Diet
The Black Rhinoceros is considered a browser, using a prehensile upper lip to grab and strip leaves from branches. Although Black Rhinoceros eat over 200 plant species, their preference is for acacias, herbs, succulents and other woody species. Unlike the White Rhino, they do not eat very much grass. Some plants are avoided by Black Rhinoceros, or certain parts eaten only in the wet season. This is because of seasonal changes in the chemicals and toxins within the plant.
Because of their size, Black Rhinoceros are required to browse daily and are highly dependent on water. They can survive up to five days without water, but will eat succulents with high water content as a substitute, if they cannot get to water directly.
Behaviour
Black Rhinoceros are generally solitary. They are often found during the middle of the day sleeping or in mud wallows or water cooling off, as they don’t have sweat glands. They can also use mud wallows in the evening, when the outside air temperature is a little lower to keep warm. Wallowing in the mud has a number of other advantages, including sun protection and pest control. Rhinos tend to browse when it is cooler in the mornings and evenings. The solitary nature of these animals can be explained by the dense habitats they occupy. There are times, however when rhinos do come together, for example if a calf is in distress. It is not uncommon for a number of rhino to respond to a distress call. They come together, forming a tight circle around the calf, heads and horns facing outwards to protect it.
Weighing in at around 1400kgs, these large animals do have a reputation for being aggressive. In most cases they will charge to scare off intruders, although these charges can be at almost 60km/hr they are often not well aimed as rhinos do not have very good eyesight. In the case of Black Rhinoceros meeting each other, the charging will often be accompanied by puffing, groaning and snorting! If the intruding rhino is similar in stature, they may enter a jousting match, using their horns to fight.
Black Rhinoceros tend to occupy a territory that is marked by urine spraying. Rhinos do however visit dung piles, which are used by other Rhinos within the range as a sort of meeting point or information post.
The Black Rhinoceros is now listed as Critically Endangered, with its numbers declining by more than 90% of those recorded only 60 years ago. The primary threat to rhinoceros is poaching for its horn. The horn is used in traditional medicines in Asia and can grow to over one metre in length. The horn is also used in dagger handles in middle eastern countries and is sold for up to $10 000 per kilo.
Other threats to the Black Rhino include habitat destruction, as it reduces living space and food supply for the Black Rhino. Civil unrest in African nations and the access to weapons have also had negative impacts on conservation efforts. Increased poverty as a result of this unrest, also promotes the trade in wildlife products by local peoples.
Conservation strategies include the prohibition of rhino products, reserves with limited or no public access, intensive protection and law enforcement, monitoring programs and relocations of animals to safe areas. Some animals are removed from the wild and brought to places like Taronga Western Plains Zoo to participate in breeding programs.
In 1991/2 captive breeding programs were started in North America and Australia with wild-caught rhinos from Zimbabwe. The ultimate goal of these programs is to continue to breed the animals until it is safe to reintroduce them back to the wild. In 1993, after 60 days of quarantine on the Cocos Islands, the breeding animals arrived at Taronga Western Plains Zoo and we are now home to one of the largest zoo-based populations of Black Rhinoceros in the world.
Taronga Western Plains Zoo has successfully bred 11 calves with the most recent being born on the 17th of February, 2010. Taronga Western Plains Zoo is also involved with reproduction research in conjunction with the Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) and through this collaboration have created the world’s first Black Rhinoceros embryo using in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
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