Rhino Fun Facts

Amaze your friends and family with these fun facts about rhinos. Remember, the more people you tell, the more people there will be to share how awesome rhinos are!

There are five different species of rhino:

Survival

Rhinos are majestic creatures that have roamed the Earth for over 50 million years.

Population

There are less than 28,000 rhinos left in the wild today.

Keystone Species

This means that their presence is vital for the survival of many other species in their habitat.

Rhinoceros means ‘nose horn’

A rhino horn is made from a protein called keratin, the same substance that human fingernails and hair are made up of.

Threats

Rhinos face many threats, including poaching for their horns, lack of habitat, and disengaged communities.

Status

As a result, many species of rhino are now ‘critically endangered’ and require urgent conservation efforts to prevent their extinction.

Lifespan

A rhinos life expectancy in the wild is between 35-50 years.

Colour

White rhino and black rhino are actually grey in colour.

Feet

Animals that walk on one or three hoofs are known as odd-toed ungulates. Rhinos are the largest animals in this group with their three hoofs, or toes.

Diet

Rhinos are herbivores (plant eaters). Despite their size, rhinos love to munch on grass, plants and bushes!

Dung

Rhinos poo about 23kg of dung in a day!

Social Structure

Rhinos are predominantly solitary animals but some species, for example the white rhino, often live in groups known as a ‘crash’.

Communication

Rhinos often use stinky piles of poo to communicate with each other and these areas of rhino dung are known as ‘middens’.

Senses

Rhinos have poor eyesight and are unable to see things clearly unless the object is very close by. This often means they struggle to see poachers until they are right in front of them. However they do have a sharp sense of hearing and a keen sense of smell.

Armour

The rhino skin is thick and protective. A rhino’s skin is very dense with some species’ skin measuring as much as 2 inches thick.

Size

The largest of the five rhino species is the white rhino, which can grow to 1.8m tall and can weigh a massive 2,500kg – the same weight of 30 men!

Baths

Rhinos love mud! They can often be seen rolling in mud baths to cool themselves down and protect themselves from insects and parasites.

Top Speed

Rhinos can charge at speeds of upto 30-35 mph making them the fastest land mammal over 1000kg.

Friends

The oxpecker bird eats ticks and other insects living on a rhino’s thick skin. This helpful bird also has a loud cry too which helps to alert the rhino of potential danger

Predators

As one of the largest land animals, adult rhinos have no natural predators. However they can get frightened really easily and their natural instinct is to charge at whatever has spooked them!

Name

The white rhino’s name comes from the Afrikaans word “wijd,” meaning “wide,” which describes its broad, flat lip. Over time, “wijd” was misinterpreted as “white.”

Endangered

The white rhino is currently classified as ‘Near Threatened’ on the IUCN Red List.

The black rhino is currently classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List.

Food Preference

A white rhino’s diet varies from that of the black rhino. White rhino are grazers, eating mainly grasses.

Habitat

White rhinos can be found in Africa and prefer open grassland and fields. This is because of their food preference.

Sub-Species

One sub-species, the northern white rhino, is already functionally extinct, with only two surviving individuals.

Hair

Rhinos are mostly bald, they only have hair on their ears, eyelashes and tails.

White Rhinos

There are an estimated 10,080 mature individual white rhinos left in the world.

Lost Rhinos

Since 1950, 90% of the worlds rhino populations have been lost.

Orphans

In the last year, there has been a 450% increase in the number of rhino calves orphaned in Kwazulu-Natal.

Poaching

There have been 229 rhinos lost to poaching in South Africa in the first half of 2024 alone.

Demand for Rhino Horn

Ground rhino horn is used in traditional Asian medicine to ‘cure’ a range of ailments, from cancer to hangovers.

Medical Benefits

There is no scientific evidence to prove there is a medical benefit to taking rhino horn remedies.

Social Status

The demand for rhino horn in many Asian countries is high. Rhino horn is seen as a status symbol, particularly in Vietnam.

Lack of Habitat

Alongside poaching, lack of habitat is the other major threat to rhino populations. Requiring lots of space to feed and breed, as more land is cleared for agricultural use, rhino populations are segmented, stopping feeding and breeding opportunities.

Umbrella Species

Rhinos are an umbrella species, this means that when you protect the rhino, you protect all the other species that share their habitat.

Name

The latin name for the black rhino is ‘Diceros bicornis’. ‘Bicornis’ meaning ‘two-horned’

Black Rhino

A few characteristics set the black and white rhino apart. One of which is the shape of their mouth. Black Rhinos have a more pointed mouth with a hooked, prehensile lip, better suited to their feeding behaviour.

Habitat

Unlike white rhino, the black rhino are more shy, secretive and aggressive in nature, preferring to live in thickets and dense brush.

Wild Numbers

There are currently estimated to be 3,142 mature black rhino individuals in the wild,

Feeding Habits

Reflecting their habitat preference, black rhino are ‘browsers’, meaning they feed on branches and leaves rather than grasses.

Population Loss

95% of the black rhino population loss has happened in the last 70 years.

Size

Black rhino are the third largest of all the rhino species.

Reproduction

Female rhinos will reproduce every two and a half years. A rhino calf will remain with their amazing mum for about three years.

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