There are many interesting animals on Earth, the natural world is fascinating and mysterious. It is very sad to realize that many species are endangered and are listed in the Red Book. It is even sadder to understand that animals suffer, to a greater extent, through the fault of humans. White rhinos also experienced such human "care." White Northern Rhino already in need of artificial restoration of the genus. Last year, the last male died of old age, only 5 females remained. Scientists have preserved the seed of the animal and hope that they will be able to achieve the birth of small northern rhinos. In order for the black and white rhinos to not suffer the same fate, measures must be taken to protect these animals. Let's get to know better these large representatives of the animal world, how they look and how they behave in the natural environment.
White rhino: description
Elephants are considered the largest animals on Earth, the white rhino takes an honorable second place in size after this huge eared. This is a tremendous land mammal. Adult males usually weigh about 2 tons, in old age can reach a weight of up to 5 tons. The body length is about 4 m, the height in the shoulders is up to 2 m. These are the giants!
White rhinoceros differs from black mainly in the structure of the upper lip. White tripled so that they feed, plucking grass from the ground, their upper lip is completely even. Black with his protruding upper lip captures, pulls tree branches, leaves and tall grass.
There is nothing white in the color of this animal, it is believed that they named it so because of the distortion of the Boer word wijde, which means “wide”, the English translated “white” in sound. So they began to call in all countries - the white rhino. In fact, the animal is slate gray, slightly lighter than the black rhino. These two species are very similar, they have 2 horns, the front one is very long, the rear horn is almost not developed. The length of the front horn in some cases can reach 1.5 m. With it, the animal spreads the bush when it feeds, and, of course, such a powerful weapon serves as a defense against enemies.
Rhinoceros animal
Rhinos live in small communities, only occasionally there are groups of 15-20 animals. The white northern rhino behaves in such a family in the same way as its cousin, the white rhino. Usually only females with babies and older children come together, males are allowed to come with great displeasure, since they pose a threat to the cubs. If the male is guilty, then the females get together and drive him out of the family, sometimes it comes to the point that the male dies from the horns of the raging “women”. They tolerate “men” only during the rut; the rest of the time, their courtship only annoys and is not accepted.
The white northern rhinoceros - the male is very aggressive, much angrier than the black representative of this genus. He does not tolerate rivals, these huge animals fight in many cases before the death of the loser. The grown children accompanying their mother are in constant danger when such a jealous male lives in the group. Very often, babies die or maim because of the bad nature of the negligent "dad."
The old males mark the territory where the herd is grazed with “fragrant” marks, sprinkling urine on the grass and bushes. If the community is in danger from an external enemy, then the group stands in a defensive circle, heads out. Young people who are not able to defend themselves are hiding in the middle of the circle. At such moments, the whole family, forgetting the turmoil, acts as one.
Procreation
In life, the white and white northern rhino still have many secrets and mysteries, not yet studied, for example, their reproduction is under a curtain. This is annoying, because their number on Earth is decreasing, you need to help this species, so as not to lose completely.
Rhinos are ready for breeding at the age of about 8-9 years. The mating season falls from July to September. The female carries a whole year and a half, brings only one baby at a time. After a day, the cub already runs after its mother, after seven days it plucks the grass, but in addition to green food, milk sucks for a whole year. A female of childbearing age leads offspring every 3 years.
White rhino. How many are left on Earth?
Now on the planet there are about 10 thousand white rhinos. The fact that this number is much larger than 25 years ago when animals were exterminated in large numbers is encouraging. Unfortunately, such joyful statistics do not apply to the white northern rhino. On Earth, there are only a few individuals of these giants. It may even be that in the coming years it will be officially announced that the northern subspecies of the white rhino has disappeared. There was still hope for the work of geneticists, they were closely engaged in the restoration of a unique subspecies. The effectiveness of their research is still in question.
Human influence on the life of white rhino
Man has put a lot of effort into ensuring that these animals are on the verge of extinction. It is good that they came to their senses in time and made sure that there was a white rhino in the Red Book.
Although African tribes preyed on rhinos, they rarely did so. Without guns, they could not do as much harm as the Europeans did to them with their weapons. In the nineteenth century, the hunt for these huge animals had no control and no boundaries. Now rhinos are under protection, strict control of their numbers is underway.