Northern White African Rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum cottoni): Captive Relicts, Wild Extinctions

Common, non-scientific, popular names generally arise to emphasize an organism’s most striking distributional range or physical feature. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that northern rhinoceroses are described as white. Some wildlife-loving amateurs and professionals conjecture that the descriptive adjective derives from an English-speaking translator’s misunderstanding the Dutch word wijd as “white” instead of “wide.” They hypothesize Dutch-speaking settlers of South Africa contrasting:

• The black rhino’s hook-lipped, narrow mouth;
• The white rhino’s square-lipped, wide muzzle.

Other interpretations identify as the etymological inspiration:

• Light-colored horns;
• Whitened greyness from mud-bathing in bird dropping-littered, calcium carbonate-layered soils;
• Widespread bio-geographies.

Whatever the real reason, all of the above-mentioned suggested explanations relay the grazing, wallowing essence of white rhinoceroses.

Binomial (“two-name”), Greco-Latin, scientific names likewise attempt to highlight what makes organisms distinct and memorable. They can -- or cannot -- make sense in original or translated forms. They do emerge as particularly apt for northern white rhinoceroses. The genus name, Ceratotherium (“horn-beast”), draws upon Walsall-born British physician and zoologist John Edward Gray’s (February 12, 1800 – March 7, 1875) expertise. The species name, simum (“flat-nosed”), is thanks to Fulham-born English artist and naturalist William John Burchell (July 23, 1781 – March 23, 1863). The trinomial (“three-name”) nomenclature owes the subspecies name, cottoni, to London-born English geologist and naturalist Richard Lydekker (July 25, 1849 – April 16, 1915). The taxonomic ensemble stresses the rhino’s “nose-horn” (ῥῑνο- [rhino-] -κέρας [-keras]) quintessence.

The distinctive facial features of the northern white rhino find their appropriate back-up in a huge physique. In fashion and interior design, grey gets viewed as elegant, slimming, and smooth. It perhaps gives refining touches to the rhino’s body that nevertheless retains the look of the world’s largest land animal after elephants (Elephas spp, Loxodonta spp). Northern white rhino specifics involve:

• Elongated head;
• Five-digit feet;
• Fringed ears, tail tips;
• Humped nape;
• Long legs.

Northern white rhinos launch 40+-year life expectancies as one 145-pound (65.77-kilogram) newborn per 16-month gestation. A newborn may expect to:

• Exist on a milky diet for 15 – 24 months;
• Remain an only calf for 2 – 3 years before establishing independent home and territorial ranges.

Female northern white rhinos announce sexual maturity by delivering -- at 6.5 – 7.5 years -- their first-borns. Males contrastingly mature sexually at:

• 8 years by demarcating scent-marked territories for mates, newborns, and subordinates;
• 10 – 12 years through dominating offensive and self-defensive charging, horn-fighting, roaring.

Physical maturity necessitates back-horn lengths of 6.29 – 15.75 inches (16 – 40 centimeters). Adult females and males respectively showcase:

• Front-horn lengths of 19.69 – 62.21 inches (50 – 158 centimeters), 19.69 – 47.24 inches (50 – 120 centimeters);
• Head-and-body lengths of 118.11 – 142.91 inches (300 – 363 centimeters), 141.73 – 149.61 inches (360 – 380 centimeters);
• Shoulder heights of 65.35 – 69.69 inches (166 – 177 centimeters), 64.96 – 72.84 inches (165 – 185 centimeters);
• Weights of 3,747.86 pounds (1,700 kilograms), 5,070.63 pounds (2,300 kilograms).

Historical records document northern white rhino bio-geographies -- west of Africa’s Nile River -- in:

• Centrafrique;
• North Uganda;
• Northeast Congo;
• South Chad;
• South Sudan.

Pre-historic rock art extends distributional ranges throughout east and north Africa. Historical and pre-historical epochs therefore give different perspectives on northern white rhino homelands. But they offer predictable responses to:

• Biomes;
• Habitats;
• Niches.

Throughout physical and temporal space, northern white rhinos consistently require:

• Dense, hilly shrublands to accommodate safe births and sustain viable populations;
• Individual territories to amble and shelter over 20 – 40 square miles (50 – 100 square kilometers);
• Moist savannas to graze medium-high and tall grasses;
• Mud hollows to keep clean, lower temperatures, repel flies and ticks;
• Water bodies to remain hydrated.

Land and water abound throughout Africa. Natural resources are sufficiently plentiful to sustain all of the continent’s diverse life forms. Their allocation historically does not pose problems in wild contexts since no animal traditionally challenges northern white rhino life expectancies. Northern white rhinos indeed fear no wild predators -- not even hyenas (Crocuta crocuta, Hyaena spp) and lions (Panthera leo) -- since mothers charging, horn-fighting, and roaring protect the young. But in captivity, they nowadays have to re-learn tolerance of human presences. Those that questionably may survive in the wild make every effort to avoid human detection. Northern white rhinos in fact recognize flesh-, horn-, traditional medicine-, and trophy-poachers as far as 2,624.67 feet (800 meters) away.

The life cycles and natural histories of northern white rhinos still can be met in theory since parts of Africa remain remote and unchanged. But urban and wildland interfaces continue respectively to expand and shrink to:

• The benefit of export-driven politico-economies;
• The detriment of native fauna and flora.

The convergence points express the conflict-riddled interactions of:

• Modernizing agro-industrialists;
• Tradition-bound poachers.

They leave Africa’s air-, land-, and water-scapes fragmented and reconfigured into people-friendly, wildlife-unfriendly congregations and corridors. And yet there still may be time to save the half-dozen or less northern white rhinos of:

• California’s San Diego Zoo;
• Czech Republic’s Dvůr Králové Zoo;
• Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Sustainability only requires:

• Environmental education;
• Governmental protection;
• Scientific research;
• Wildlife-loving activism.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Rhinoceros simus cottoni: male (left), female (right)
illustration by J. Terrier; lithography by J. Pitcher Ltd.; E.L. Trouessart, "Le Rhinocéros blanc du Soudan (Rhinoceros simus cottoni)"
Proceedings of General Meetings of Zoological Society of London (Feb. 16, 1909), Plate XXIX, opp. p. 198: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31577733

John Edward Gray (February 12, 1800 – March 7, 1875): British zoologist is credited with assigning genus name, Ceratotherium, for White Rhinoceros.
1855 albumen print portrait of John Edward Gray; photograph attributed to Maull & Polyblank: Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Edward_Gray._Photograph._Wellcome_V0027572.jpg

William John Burchell (July 23, 1781 - March 23, 1863): English explorer and naturalist is credited with assigning species name, simum, to Northern White Rhino.
1854 portrait by Thomas Herbert Maguire (1821 - April 1895): Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_John_Burchell01.jpg; Public Domain Mark, via Wellcome Collection @ https://wellcomecollection.org/works/jzjvywhv

July 10, 2012: a male Northern White Rhinoceros named Angalifu (1974 - December 14, 2014)
San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Escondido, northern San Diego County, Southern California: Heather Paul (warriorwoman531), CC BY-ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/warriorwoman531/7663177936/

Northern White Rhino in ZOO Dvůr Králové, Czech Republic
Štefánikova 1029, Dvůr Králové nad Labem, Trutnov District, Hradec Králové Region, north central Czech Republic: Mistvan, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ceratotherium.simum.cottoni-02-ZOO.Dvur.Kralove.jpg

Native Range Distribution Map for Northern and Southern white rhinoceri
Former native range of Northern White Rhino encompassed eastern Central African Republic, southern Chad, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern South Sudan, and northwestern Uganda.
Native Range Map symbols: orange = Northern White Rhino (C.s. cottoni); green = Southern White Rhino (C.s. simum): Fabio b, CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons@ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mapa_distribuicao_original_white_rhino.png

Czech town of Dvůr Králové nad Labem and its zoo safari park, ZOO Dvůr Králové, which specializes in African fauna
Trutnov District, Hradec Králové Region, northeastern historical Bohemia, north central Czech Republic: Karelj, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dvůr_Králové_nad_Labem_from_air_3.jpg

"Vzpomínka na Suniho" (2:39). Memory of/Tribute to Suni: 1980 Zoo Dvůr Králové, Czech Republic - 2014 Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya
Uploaded Oct. 18, 2014, by Lemuria TV to YouTube ~ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05HLMdnld3U

"Last Chance for the Northern White Rhino" (3:13). Translocation from Dvur Kralove Zoo in Czech Republic to Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya
Uploaded April 14, 2010, by The Nature Conservancy to YouTube ~ URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WewuABQZe4E

Suni's gravestone (left of tree)
Gravestone to Suni's right (in front of tree) honors Sudan, who accompanied Suni to Kenya in 2009 and who was euthanized March 19, 2018.
Ol Pejeta Rhino Cemetery and Memorial, opened September 22, 2014; eastern Ol Pejeta Conservancy: Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ol_Pejeta_Rhino_Cemetery_&_Memorial,_Remembering_Sudan_(the_last_male_northern_white_rhino)_One_Year_On_(46723597264).jpg

Northern White Rhinos at Dvůr Králové Zoo, Czech zoo park, prior to translocation to Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy
ca. 2007 image: Left (top) = Suni, male, aged 27 years; Right (bottom) = Nabire, female, aged 24 years
Colin Groves et al., "The Sixth Rhino" (2010), Figure 9: Jan Robovský, CC BY 2.0, via PLoS ONE @ https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0009703

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