Black rhinoceroses possess thick-layered skin to ward off thorns and sharp grasses as well as external parasites like ticks and mites, as well as their predators. Relying heavily on scent and hearing to detect predators.
Black rhinoceroses use scent to mark their territory and communicate with other black rhinos, helping others recognize their age, sex, and potential mates.
Habitat
Black rhinos inhabit wooded grasslands, acacia savannas, and bush-land environments. As generalist browsers they consume over 220 plant species – leaves, shoots and fruit particularly being favorites! Like its African cousins the Black Rhino is also dependent on flowing water to survive and is therefore classified as mammal that requires freshwater streams for survival.
Although black rhinos tend to be solitary creatures, they sometimes congregate at watering holes during dawn and dusk hours for watering and social interaction. Their scent trails help identify fellow members of their species; using this sense of smell they use this sense to locate food sources as well as navigate terrain without eyesight impairment or blindness. Black Rhinos have poor eyesight so rely on this sense of smell in combination with hearing to locate food, navigate landscapes and locate one another – as well as wallow in mud for bug repellent protection and sun protection!
Due to their armor-like skin, natural predators rarely prey upon Black Rhinos; however, poachers’ demand for their horn has led to its near extinction and is listed as Critically Endangered species.
International organizations work in cooperation with local communities to protect this remarkable animal’s future. They train armed guards to defend rhinos from poachers while providing education about why rhinos matter so much to society. Translocation programs also assist with moving rhinos out of areas degraded by poaching into protected sanctuaries or conservation areas where they can breed freely and flourish. Though this is an encouraging development, the illegal wildlife trade still poses a grave risk to black rhino populations across Africa. Black Rhinos populations have begun a gradual rebound thanks to concerted efforts made by those working tirelessly to protect these endangered animals. The Northern Rangelands Trust is pleased to play an integral part in rhino conservation by supporting Borana Conservancy and Sera Wildlife Conservancy’s programs for rhino preservation. Please help these conservancies as well as other organizations working toward saving Africa’s wildlife!
Diet
As with other rhinoceroses, black rhinos are large herbivores. Their sturdy bodies are covered in thick armored skin to provide protection from predators and abrasions; two keratin-sheathed horns protrude from their faces while their mouths feature hooks to grab leaves and branches from tree branches. Although intimidating in appearance, black rhinos are actually relatively gentle; one of few animals that can be trained and often engage in behaviors that zoo visitors enjoy watching – such as swimming, bowing greeting people and rubbing faces against each other!
The Black Rhinoceros is the most widespread subspecies, found across South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province to northwestern Tanzania and southern Kenya. Although their numbers have increased within reserves, poaching continues to threaten their survival in the wild.
Backtracking and faecal analysis has revealed that Black Rhinos consume a wide range of plants. While they prefer the dense vegetation of savanna and woodland environments, they also can be found feeding on grasses and shrubs found within more dense, shaded habitats like Veldt.
Human teeth and tongues have evolved to grind plant material, while long necked primates use their long tongues to pluck leaves and twigs from trees. Primates also bite twigs with high spinescence or tannin content or low digestibility when searching for nutrients (Codron 2020; Kingdon et al. 2013).
Rhino calves are born without bacteria in their digestive systems, so they must “condition” their stomachs for adult diet by snacking on dung. This helps establish a stable gut microbiome essential for absorption and processing nutrients contained within food sources.
Captive rhinos are fed a diet consisting of alfalfa hay and coastal grass hay. In addition, they receive EqoStim (Farnam Companies Inc of Phoenix AZ), an elephant and white rhino supplement (Mazuri of St Louis MO), Strategy Healthy Edge (which offers controlled starch and sugar intake with increased fat and fiber; Purina Animal Nutrition of Gary Summit MO), as well as water.
Recent metagenomic analysis of faecal samples collected from captive and wild black rhinoceroses demonstrated significant disparities in their intestinal microbiomes, with captive rhinos possessing more glycolysis and amino acid synthesis pathways than their wild counterparts.
Behavior
Black rhinoceroses are browsers, eating leaves, branches and bark. Their prehensile upper lips help them grasp and pull vegetation toward them to eat, while their horns provide protection from predators or rivals for food sources – theirs consisting of hardened compressed hair-like fibers on a bony base.
Black Rhinoceroses are generally solitary animals, apart from mating pairs and females with their calves. Males are territorial and aggressive; however, recent studies have demonstrated that females and subadults may form loose associations among themselves. Black rhinoceroses possess highly developed intelligence with excellent senses of smell and hearing allowing them to detect other rhinos, water sources, danger, erect ears which swivel to pick up even quietest sounds, small eyes which make them nearsighted but are compensated by an acute sense of smell; two massive front horns measuring up to 50 inches long dominate their large heads; large heads dominated by massive front horns can occupying this space on either side dominated by two massive front horns crowned by two massive front horns which cover this space on either side – these massive front horns which dominate this space on either side; this massive head bearing two massive front horns which dominate this space with two massive front horns which can grow to 50 inches long!…
Rhinos communicate with other rhinos via scent marking, which occurs when they urinate on trees and bushes or near waterholes and feeding areas. Other rhinos will then smell this urine to determine age, gender and possible breeding partners of an individual rhino.
At times, other vocalizations may also be heard: growling and trumpet calls may be used during aggressive encounters; snorting often signals anger or fear, high-pitched noises may be made when scared or startled, and an attack might result in growls or rumbles of alarm being produced by animals.
At night, they sleep soundly under the cover of darkness or shallow bodies of water, relaxing or resting as the day wears on. In rainy seasons, they migrate higher uphill in order to avoid floodwaters; otherwise they are highly mobile creatures which travel great distances in search of food and water sources.
The Black Rhino is endangered due to habitat loss and poaching for its horn, and AWF strives to address this threat by helping establish protected areas, working with local governments to strengthen law enforcement and education initiatives, and funding rangers’ vehicles, equipment, and training needs. Furthermore, they constructed Nguila Rhino Sanctuary in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park that provides safe habitat for these rhinos while simultaneously discouraging poachers.
Health
The Black Rhino population continues to decline due to habitat encroachment, poaching and other human activities. Zoos and conservation parks have taken steps to combat this by breeding and raising these animals to help sustain wild populations; however they face challenges maintaining healthful breeding populations for release back into the wild; one problem they face with this endeavor is Iron Storage Disease (IOD), in which an animal accumulates too much iron over time, leading to organ damage and reduced fertility.
IOD occurs as the result of chronic and progressive imbalance in iron metabolism that leads to an accumulation of excess iron, saturating transport proteins, and ultimately leading to tissue and organ damage. Unfortunately, IOD often leads to death and affects Black Rhinos held captive through poor health and reduced reproductive ability.
Black Rhino are believed to be in an imbalance due to both diet and environment factors in captivity. Fatty acids found in their food don’t match those they would find naturally, while stress caused by lack of space and stimulation can cause anxiety and depression resulting in elevated cortisol levels that inhibit immune regulation making regulating iron levels harder for them to achieve.
Researchers have recently discovered that captive Black Rhinos are at increased risk for inflammation and insulin resistance – conditions suffered by millions of humans worldwide. Their research indicates this condition occurs only among captive black rhinos compared with their wild counterparts; additionally they’ve observed low phosphate and iron levels which they suspect contributes to these metabolic issues.
To better understand this issue, they are studying the bacterial microbiome (the collection of microorganisms that live and reside on or on animals’ bodies) of both wild and captive Black Rhinos in order to detect possible sources for metabolic disorders in both populations – a critical first step toward discovering ways to help these critically endangered species.