Skip to main content

How to pat a rhinoceros



The rhinoceros – or rhino – is from Africa and Asia. Rhino means nose and ceros means horn. There are three species in Southern Asia: the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), the Indian rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis), and the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus). There are two species of rhinoceros in Africa: the black rhino (Diceros bicornis) and the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum).

Black rhinos – 98% of them – live in four countries in Africa: South Africa (about 40% of the total black rhinoceros population), Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. White rhinos live mainly in South Africa, but they have also been introduced into Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. Southern white rhinos have been introduced into Kenya, Zambia, and the Ivory Coast.

Poaching and killing of the rhinoceros (to sell their horns on the black market for ornaments and medicinal properties) increased 3,000% between 2007 and 2011. The horns are made of keratin (like human hair and fingernails). The African rhinos and the Sumatran rhino have two horns, while the Indian and Javan rhinocerus have a single horn. In the early 1900s there were 500,000 black rhinos in Africa. Today the population is aboout 29,000. They usually live up to 35-40 years.

I saw my first two white rhinos in Kenya. I saw my second two white rhinos in my hometown of Canberra, the capital of Australia. How did they get there?

Kifaru and Ubuntu are two white rhinos (from different parents) at the National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra. They arrived in Canberra in 2014 as five-year-olds from the Hamilton Zoo in New Zealand as part of a breeding program to protect genetic diversity. They are currently housed in the new 10-hectare extension of the zoo, that was not yet open to the public when I visited in February 2015. I met Kifaru and Ubuntu as part of a private tour.

Kifaru and Ubuntu were friendly and walked to the metal fencing for an up close and personal meeting with their visitors, and for a back scratch. The thick skin (1.5 to 5 centimetres thick) is formed from layers and layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure. Since they are herbivores (plant eating) they are not interested in human meat, but they will attack if provoked. They predominantly placed their rear to the visitors for a rub against the fence. Patting them releases fine dust and dirt into the air that they’ve been rolling in.

With a quick pat on the rump, the rhinos happily trot around their large enclosure to talk to each other about their experience with humans. They do this by touching their horns together gently in a low-head position.
















Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...
1 comment
Read more