If only dry forage is available, they can be found within a day’s travel to a water source. If water is available, they will drink everyday however they also handle drought conditions very well and can go up to five days without drinking so long as their food contains enough moisture. Consumption of long grass is usually very low, making up only 30-40% of their overall diet. Unlike their cousins, the white rhino, black rhinos are browsers and eat leaves, twigs and branches. Map of distribution of the black rhinoceros Diet 40% of the total wild population live in South Africa. Today, 98% of the total population of black rhino is found in just four African countries South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Since 1981, the black rhino has disappeared from many areas of Africa including Ethiopia, Malawi, Sudan and Botswana. However, in the 1970s-80s, a poaching epidemic caused numbers to decrease by 40-90%. Historically, they could be found throughout sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of the Congo basin. They often restrict their territories to areas within 25km of water sources and can also be found in mud or water wallows to cool themselves. Greater one-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) -VULNERABLE-īlack rhino can be mainly found living in grassland – forest transition zones but can range from the desert in south-western Africa to montane forests in Kenya.Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) -CRITICALLY ENDANGERED.Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) -CRITICALLY ENDANGERED.White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) -NEAR THREATENED.The black rhino is slightly sexually dimorphic with the males being fractionally larger than the females. The front horn is larger than the other and grow as much as three inches (eight centimetres) in a year and can grow up to five feet (1 ½ meters) long. The black rhinoceros has two horns on its face made of keratin. They are distinguished from white rhinos by their pointed upper lip which is used for browsing from trees and bushes. They are hairless apart from the ears, tip of the tail and eyelashes. They are smaller in size than the other African rhino, the white rhino and have less of a pronounced hump on the back of their necks. The black rhino is a large, grey coloured animal with thick overlapping skin. Species: Diceros bicornis (Black Rhinoceros).Genus: Diceros (Double Horned Rhinoceros).Order: Perissodactyla (Odd-toed Ungulates).
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