Is a Rhino a Carnivore? And Other Fascinating Rhino Facts
Would a rhino eat you if they had a chance?
Rhinos are amazing creatures – ones we’ve all heard of, and might even have seen. There also a little mysterious. How much do you really know about the rhinoceros?
Is a rhino a carnivore? What would you call two of them? Or a group? What is a baby rhino called (cute doesn’t count)? Would you need to be afraid if you ran into one? Where would you have to go if you wanted to run into one?
Read on to find the answers to these questions and more facts about these amazing animals.
Is a rhino a carnivore?
No, a rhino is actually an herbivore. Herbivores are animals that eat grasses and other plants. If a rhino was a person, we’d call him a vegetarian.
Herbivores can either be grazers, who eat different sorts of grasses. Or they can be browsers, eating leaves, fruit, and twigs. Some rhino species are grazers and some are browsers – and some are both.
But any rhino can browse or graze if that’s the only food available.
Rhinos average about 600 – 3200 kg, or 1320 – 7100 lbs, depending on the species. That’s a lot of leaves and grass!
In fact, one rhino has to eat about 54 kg, or 120 lbs of plant matter every day. It’s a full-time job – up to 16 hours a day is spent eating.
Because rhinos are herbivores, they mainly have molars and premolars, which are flat-topped teeth for grinding vegetation. But unlike some herbivores like cows, rhinos only have one stomach and don’t chew their cud.
1. What is a bunch of rhinos called?
A group of rhinos, while sometimes referred to as a herd, is also called a crash. You can probably guess why – rhinos on the move can reach speeds of 48 km, or 30 miles an hour.
However, they are only able to see about 9 metres, or 30 feet ahead. Crashes happen.
However, if you’re simply referring to a couple of these animals, you could call them by the plural rhinos or rhinoceroses.
2. Are rhinos aggressive?
They can be. They certainly are equipped for aggression, with their large horns and enormous muscled bodies. But they tend not to go looking for trouble.
Black rhinos are known to be skittish, though, and will attack if they feel threatened. Also, any mother rhino with a baby will protect it by attacking if she feels it’s necessary.
The fact is, with a rhino’s poor eyesight, any kind of surprise can be interpreted as a threat and may invite an attack. In other words, never sneak up on a rhino.
In addition, male white rhinos especially are known for being quite territorial and might charge another male who seems to be encroaching on his turf.
As well, aggression can often be seen between males(bulls), fighting over a female (cow) for mating right. These fights can be brutal, often causing injuries. Once a victor emerges, it’s actually up to the female to persuade the bull that she’s worth it.
3. How many kinds of rhinos are there?
There are five different species of rhinoceros that can be found around the world. These include the white rhino, black rhino, Indian rhino, Javan rhino, and Sumatran rhino.
African Rhinos
White Rhinos:
- The second largest land mammals on the planet, they are not actually white! White rhinos are grey, and it’s been suggested that the word white was originally the Afrikaan word weit.
Meaning wide in English, the word refers to the white rhino’s wide mouth. This is easy to spot, as the lips are very wide and square.
- This has also earned them the nickname “the square-lipped rhino”. This makes grazing along the ground easier.
- About 98.8% of white rhinos can be found in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. There are actually two subspecies of white rhinos, northern and southern.
- Unfortunately, there are only 2 female northern white rhinos left in the world in 2022.
Black Rhinos:
- The smaller of Africa’s rhino species is not actually black, but also grey. Speculation is that people began calling it black to set it apart from the white rhino. Or perhaps because of the dark colour of the mud they like to wallow in.
- The main difference between black and white rhinos actually lies in that lip. While white rhinos are grazers, and the wide square lip works with that, black rhinos are browsers. They have a pointy, prehensile top lip that helps grab leaves and branches much like a small finger.
- There were 3 subspecies of black rhino – eastern, southern central, and south western. The south western black rhino was declared extinct in 2011, due to poaching and the illegal wildlife trade.
- 98% of black rhinos are found in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa.
Asian Rhinos
Indian Rhino:
- Also known as the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros, this rhino lives in northern India and Nepal. Due to the problems that humans cause for these rhinos, they are now confined to several protected areas.
- They have thick, bumpy skin that lays in thick folds that look like plates of armour.
- The Indian rhino is a browser like the African Rhinos, but with a prehensile lip that helps grasp the longer grasses that he eats. They will also eat some leaves and branches, and fruit if they come across it.
- Even though these guys are only a bit smaller than the chunky white rhinos of Africa, they’re considered to be pretty good swimmers. They also snack on some of the aquatic plants they come across.
Javan Rhinos:
- These rhinos are now found only in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park. At one time they roamed across northeast India and Southeast Asia. The last Javan rhino in Vietnam was lost to poaching in 2010.
- They like dense, lowland tropical forests and like the Indian rhino, are great swimmers. They also have the prehensile lip, but they are browsers and grazers.
- Javans have an armoured appearance similar to Indian rhinos, but their skin folds aren’t quite as deep. They’ve also got smaller heads.
Sumatran Rhino:
- These little rhinos are found only on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. They like thick forest areas, tropical and subtropical, at high altitudes. They can be as small as 1 meter, or 3.3 feet tall.
- Sumatran rhinos have more in common genetically with the extinct woolly rhinos than with the 4 types of rhinos above.
- Like other Asian rhinos, they have a prehensile upper lip, and are great swimmers.
4. Do rhinos have hair?
Yes, but nothing that will give them a wind-blown look. All rhinos have a bit of hair. White rhinos have fringes on their ears and tufted tails.
Sumatran rhinos, on the other hand, are born covered with dense hair that turns red-brown in young adults, and near-black and sparse in adults.
For this reason, Sumatran rhinos are also sometimes known as the Hairy Rhinoceroses.
5. How long does a rhino live?
Generally speaking, the life span of rhinos is between 35 and 50 years. Of course, this depends on a lot of factors, including their breed, and what sorts of pitfalls they run into in their lives.
Because of the relative lack of dangers, namely poachers, rhinos in captivity can live longer. A white rhino in Northern Italy reached the respectable age of 54.
6. Do rhinos really have armour?
No, they don’t. They can have the appearance of armour, though, especially the Indian and Javan rhinos with the thick, bumpy folds of skin over their shoulders, hips, and backsides.
Is a rhino’s skin bulletproof?
The skin of a rhino can be up to 5 cm, or 2 inches thick, and can actually be strong enough to stop a bullet. However, it doesn’t actually qualify as bulletproof.
Actually, all that thick skin is pretty sensitive, especially to sunburn and insects. You’ll often see rhinos covered in mud, as this protects them from the hot African sun and biting bugs.
And rolling in the mud is probably a pretty bit of fun, too.
7. What part of the world do rhinos live in?
Rhinos used to roam large areas of Africa and Asia. However, outside of zoos, rhinos can now only be found in limited parts of Africa and of small parts of Asia.
White & Black rhinos: Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Kenya
Indian rhinos: Northern India and Nepal
Javan rhinos: Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park, on the island of Java
Sumatran rhinos: Sumatra and Borneo.
8. How many horns do rhinos have?
The number and size of horn varies among the different rhino species
White, black, and Sumatran rhinos all have 3 horns. White rhinos generally have the longest horns, and their front horn can reach lengths of up to 150 cm, or 59 inches! They average about 90 cm, or 35 inches, though.
In rare cases, a black rhino might develop a third horn higher up on the nose in line with the other 2. One was even spotted in Namibia in 2015 with a third horn growing from his forehead.
Sumatran rhinos, on the smallest end of the 2- horned scale, with front horns averaging 25–79 cm or 10 – 31 inches. Any rhino’s rear horn is smaller than the front one.
Javan and Indian, aka. Greater One-Horned, rhinos, both have a single horn. The Indian rhino is between 20 and 100 cm, or 8 – 39 inches long, similar to Africa’s white rhino.
9. Do rhino horns really have medicinal value?
It’s entirely false that there is any medical benefit to rhino horn.
But, though it’s commonly believed that rhino horn is used in Asian medicine as an aphrodisiac, this is not actually the case.
Once it is ground into a powder and made into a tea, it is consumed to treat a variety of complaints. These range from fever and gout to snakebite and food poisoning.
In truth, it doesn’t heal any of these conditions. Rhino horn is made from keratin, the same protein substance that our own fingers and toenails, are made from. Image grinding those up and making a tea to cure your headache?
10. Are rhinos afraid of anything?
Humans are the primary danger to any species of rhino. Humans hunt them for sport, poach for a rhino’s horn, and destroy rhinos’ habitats.
Adult rhinos in Africa don’t have much to fear from other animals unless they’re very old or sick. However, their young are vulnerable to the many predators they share their space with – lions and leopards, African wild dogs, and crocodiles, for example.
Asian rhinos don’t have much to fear, either, except any tigers could be in the area. Again, the babies, the weak, and the old are easier marks for the big cats.
11. Why do rhinos need protection?
Rhinos’ greatest threat is humans, namely poaching. As mentioned above, their horns are in high demand in Asian traditional medicine markets. Even though the sale of rhino horn has been banned, the demand is still high.
An increasing threat to all, but especially to Asian rhinos is the loss of habitat. Deforestation leading to the loss of habitat is also an enormous threat.
Unfortunately, trophy hunting for black and white rhinos is still legal in Namibia and South Africa under certain conditions.
12. How many rhinos are there in the world in 2022?
According to the International Rhino Foundation, the number of rhinos left on our planet in 2022 is estimated to be less than 27,000. We have the most white rhinos remaining, with just under 16,000 and decreasing.
Black, Javan, and Sumatran rhinos are all critically endangered, with fewer than 80 of each Javan and Sumatran rhinos left.
On the brighter side, the population of greater one-horned rhinos, sitting now at 4,000, is actually increasing!
13. Are rhinos fast?
Rhinos can run faster than you might think they can, given their size and bulk. In act, they have very powerful rear legs that help to move them forward.
These animals can actually reach speeds between 40 and 55 km/hr, or 25-34 miles/hr. Indian and Sumatran rhinos tend to be the slowest.
Black rhinos, on the other hand, are the fastest, topping out at a speedy 55km/hr.
But while they may be fast, they’re only sprinters. Whether they’re fleeing from a predator, charging a threat, or chasing a competing rhino from their territory, they peter out fast.
The longest even a black rhino can keep up the pace is about 1.6 km, or just under a mile.
14. What is a rhino classified as?
There are 5 levels of classification for rhinos:
Kingdom – Animalia: the group of living things that includes all multicelled animals, including humans.
Phylum – Chordata: simply put, these include animals that have a spinal column, along with a few other species.
Class – Mammalia: in other words, they’re mammals. They produce milk and have some hair or fur.
Order – Perissodactyla: these are a group of herbivorous mammals that have either one or 3 hoofed toes on their back feet. Horses are also in this order.
Family – Rhinocerotidae: this family includes all living species of rhinos, as well as those that are now extinct.
Summing It Up: Is a Rhino A Carnivore and More Facts
We’ve answered the question, Is a rhino a carnivore?! We’ve also uncovered a lot more fascinating things about these chubby unicorns. They really are one of the world’s most amazing animals.
There absolutely is nothing like seeing one of these enormous creatures in the wild. If you get the chance, take it. It’ll be something that you’ll never forget.
Happy Travels!
Read more amazing facts about Africa:
➼ 98 Amazing Things to Know About Southern Africa
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➼ 30 African Wildlife Facts You Never Knew
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