Environment
Habitat
Black rhinos have various habitats, but mainly areas with dense, woody vegetation and may also be seen in open country
Range
Eastern Africa
Diet
The black rhino is a browser, with a triangular-shaped upper lip ending in a mobile grasping point. It eats a large variety of vegetation, including leaves, buds and shoots of plants, bushes and trees.
Niche
As a herbivorous browser, the black rhino eats leafy plants as well as branches, shoots, thorny wood bushes and fruit. Rhino skin harbors many external parasites, which are eaten by tickbirds and egrets that live with the rhino. Young are preyed upon by hyenas. These solitary animals are more nocturnal than diurnal. Females are not territorial; their ranges vary according to food supply. Males are more aggressive in defending turf, but will tolerate properly submissive male intruders.
Black rhinos have various habitats, but mainly areas with dense, woody vegetation and may also be seen in open country
Range
Eastern Africa
Diet
The black rhino is a browser, with a triangular-shaped upper lip ending in a mobile grasping point. It eats a large variety of vegetation, including leaves, buds and shoots of plants, bushes and trees.
Niche
As a herbivorous browser, the black rhino eats leafy plants as well as branches, shoots, thorny wood bushes and fruit. Rhino skin harbors many external parasites, which are eaten by tickbirds and egrets that live with the rhino. Young are preyed upon by hyenas. These solitary animals are more nocturnal than diurnal. Females are not territorial; their ranges vary according to food supply. Males are more aggressive in defending turf, but will tolerate properly submissive male intruders.
Predators
Human are the cause of the demise of the rhino population being a biotic factor that influences its survival. In the wild, the adult black rhino has no true natural predators and, despite its, it is extremely easy for man to kill. Since lives in a well-defined home range, it usually goes to water holes daily, where it is easily ambushed. This species is listed as endangered and trade of is prohibited by international law. The primary cause of population decline is hunting; rhino horns are made into dagger handles and are the symbol of wealth in many countries and it is also used as an aphrodisiac
Pre 20th century numbers: several hundred thousand.
Current numbers in wild: 3,610
Current numbers in captivity: At the end of 2004, there were 277 black rhinos in captivity. Through the past 200 years (until 1998), there have been 775 animals recorded in zoos, of which 292 were born in captivity
Human are the cause of the demise of the rhino population being a biotic factor that influences its survival. In the wild, the adult black rhino has no true natural predators and, despite its, it is extremely easy for man to kill. Since lives in a well-defined home range, it usually goes to water holes daily, where it is easily ambushed. This species is listed as endangered and trade of is prohibited by international law. The primary cause of population decline is hunting; rhino horns are made into dagger handles and are the symbol of wealth in many countries and it is also used as an aphrodisiac
Pre 20th century numbers: several hundred thousand.
Current numbers in wild: 3,610
Current numbers in captivity: At the end of 2004, there were 277 black rhinos in captivity. Through the past 200 years (until 1998), there have been 775 animals recorded in zoos, of which 292 were born in captivity