The White Rhinoceros Trivia Quiz

Answer: A mis-translation.

It is thought that the name "white rhinoceros" comes from a misinterpretation, by English settlers, of the Afrikaans word, "weit", and the Boer word, "wijdt", both of which actually mean "wide". This was to describe the rhino's broad, square lips.

Answer: Ceratotherium simum.

"Ceratotherium simum" is from the Greek "cerato" meaning "horn", "therium" meaning "wild beast" and "simum" meaning "flat-nosed".

"Rhinoceros sondaicus" is the Javan rhino, "Diceros bicornis" is the black rhino, "Rhinoceros unicornis" is the Indian rhino and there is a fifth species, "Dicerorhinus sumatrensis", the Sumatran rhino.

Answer: Savannas and woodlands with grassy clearings.

This habitat provides the rhinos with thick bush cover and a relatively flat terrain. Water is essential for both wallowing and drinking and the short grass for grazing is their staple diet.

Answer: False

It is the black rhino that is usually solitary whereas white rhinos tend to be more sociable. They have, what is thought to be, "the most complex social structure of any of the different rhino species and associations of up to fourteen individuals have been observed" (www.WWF.org.uk).

Answer: The northern white rhino and the southern white rhino.

These two subspecies represent the most endangered, and the least endangered, of all rhino species.
The northern white is the most endangered with numbers that dropped to five or ten, rising to about thirty by the late nineties.
The southern white rhino, due to very successful conservation programmes, is the most abundant of all known rhino taxa, with numbers in excess of eleven thousand.
(Data taken from the "African Wildlife Foundation" and the "International Rhino Foundation").

Answer: Oxpeckers

Oxpeckers, also known as tick birds, eat the parasites found on the rhino and noisily warn of approaching danger. This is beneficial to the rhino as they have very poor eyesight and to the oxpeckers as it provides them with food. This benefit is great enough for the rhino that, even though the birds will sometimes obstruct healing (by pecking open sores in the rhino's skin), they are still tolerated.

Answer: It is hairless except for ear fringes and tail bristles.

The white rhinoceros also has two horns which are not true horns but are comprised of "thickly-matted hair that grows from the skull without skeletal support" (African Wildlife Foundation).

Answer: Africa

Northern and southern white rhinos have, historically, occupied widely separate ranges. Black rhinos are now only officially found in Garamba National Park (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) although there have been reported sightings in southern Sudan.

White rhinos, having ranged Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, are now mainly found in protected areas and private ranches of South Africa. They have also been introduced to areas where they were not previously known.

Answer: Dung piles.

Adult males can occupy a territory of up to three kilometres and they mark these with vigorously scraped dung piles. Adult females may have home ranges of up to twenty kilometres or larger, depending on habitat quality and population density (WWF).

Answer: Uncontrolled hunting and poaching.

The white rhino has no natural predators and, despite its size, has been easy for man to kill due to its regular habits and frequenting of easily-ambushed areas. The rhino has been hunted for its horn, made of thickly matted hair, for its use in traditional medicine and ornamental carvings, particularly in Asia.