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Black rhinoceros
The black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis), also called the black rhino or the hooked-lip rhinoceros, is a species of rhinoceros native to East and Southern Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Although the species is referred to as black, its colours vary from brown to grey. It is the only extant species of the genus Diceros.
The other rhinoceros native to Africa is the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). The word "white" in the name "white rhinoceros" is often said to be a misinterpretation of the Afrikaans word wyd (Dutch wijd) meaning wide, referring to its square upper lip, as opposed to the pointed or hooked lip of the black rhinoceros. These species are now sometimes referred to as the square-lipped (for white) or hook-lipped (for black) rhinoceros.
The species overall is classified as critically endangered (even though the south-western black rhinoceros is classified as near threatened) and is threatened by multiple factors including poaching and habitat reduction. Three subspecies have been declared extinct, including the western black rhinoceros, which was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2011. The IUCN estimates that 3,142 mature individuals remain in the wild.
The species was first named Rhinoceros bicornis by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema naturae in 1758. The name means "double-horned rhinoceros". There is some confusion about what exactly Linnaeus conceived under this name as this species was probably based upon the skull of a single-horned Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), with a second horn artificially added by the collector. Such a skull is known to have existed and Linnaeus even mentioned India as origin of this species. However he also referred to reports from early travellers about a double-horned rhino in Africa and when it emerged that there is only one, single-horned species of rhino in India, Rhinoceros bicornis was used to refer to the African rhinos (the white rhino only became recognised in 1812). In 1911 this was formally fixed and the Cape of Good Hope officially declared the type locality of the species.
The intraspecific variation in the black rhinoceros has been discussed by various authors and is not finally settled. The most accepted scheme considers seven or eight subspecies, Its Somalian range was the last to be eradicated, the subspecies becoming extinct sometime in the early 20th century. of which three became extinct in historical times and one is on the brink of extinction:
The most widely adopted alternative scheme only recognizes five subspecies or "eco-types": D. b. bicornis, D. b. brucii, D. b. longipes, D. b. michaeli, and D. b. minor. This concept is also used by the IUCN, listing three surviving subspecies and recognizing D. b. brucii and D. b. longipes as extinct. The most important difference to the above scheme is the inclusion of the extant southwestern subspecies from Namibia in D. b. bicornis instead of in its own subspecies, whereupon the nominal subspecies is considered extant.
The rhinoceros originated in the Eocene about fifty million years ago alongside other members of Perissodactyla. The last common ancestor of living rhinoceroses belonging to the subfamily Rhinocerotinae is suggested to have lived around 16 million years ago.
The white rhinoceros and black rhinoceros are more closely related to each other than to other living rhinoceroses. Rhinoceroses closely related to the black and the white rhinoceros were present in Africa by the Late Miocene about 10 million years ago, and possibly as early as 17 million years ago. The two species may have descended from the Eurasian species "Ceratotherium" neumayri, but this is disputed. A 2021 genetic analysis estimated the split between the white and black rhinoceros at around 7 million years ago. After this split, the direct ancestor of Diceros bicornis, Diceros praecox was present in the Pliocene of East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania). D. bicornis is suggested to have evolved from this species during the Late Pliocene – Early Pleistocene, with the oldest definitive record at the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary c. 2.5 million years ago at Koobi Fora, Kenya.
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Black rhinoceros
The black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis), also called the black rhino or the hooked-lip rhinoceros, is a species of rhinoceros native to East and Southern Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Although the species is referred to as black, its colours vary from brown to grey. It is the only extant species of the genus Diceros.
The other rhinoceros native to Africa is the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). The word "white" in the name "white rhinoceros" is often said to be a misinterpretation of the Afrikaans word wyd (Dutch wijd) meaning wide, referring to its square upper lip, as opposed to the pointed or hooked lip of the black rhinoceros. These species are now sometimes referred to as the square-lipped (for white) or hook-lipped (for black) rhinoceros.
The species overall is classified as critically endangered (even though the south-western black rhinoceros is classified as near threatened) and is threatened by multiple factors including poaching and habitat reduction. Three subspecies have been declared extinct, including the western black rhinoceros, which was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2011. The IUCN estimates that 3,142 mature individuals remain in the wild.
The species was first named Rhinoceros bicornis by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema naturae in 1758. The name means "double-horned rhinoceros". There is some confusion about what exactly Linnaeus conceived under this name as this species was probably based upon the skull of a single-horned Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), with a second horn artificially added by the collector. Such a skull is known to have existed and Linnaeus even mentioned India as origin of this species. However he also referred to reports from early travellers about a double-horned rhino in Africa and when it emerged that there is only one, single-horned species of rhino in India, Rhinoceros bicornis was used to refer to the African rhinos (the white rhino only became recognised in 1812). In 1911 this was formally fixed and the Cape of Good Hope officially declared the type locality of the species.
The intraspecific variation in the black rhinoceros has been discussed by various authors and is not finally settled. The most accepted scheme considers seven or eight subspecies, Its Somalian range was the last to be eradicated, the subspecies becoming extinct sometime in the early 20th century. of which three became extinct in historical times and one is on the brink of extinction:
The most widely adopted alternative scheme only recognizes five subspecies or "eco-types": D. b. bicornis, D. b. brucii, D. b. longipes, D. b. michaeli, and D. b. minor. This concept is also used by the IUCN, listing three surviving subspecies and recognizing D. b. brucii and D. b. longipes as extinct. The most important difference to the above scheme is the inclusion of the extant southwestern subspecies from Namibia in D. b. bicornis instead of in its own subspecies, whereupon the nominal subspecies is considered extant.
The rhinoceros originated in the Eocene about fifty million years ago alongside other members of Perissodactyla. The last common ancestor of living rhinoceroses belonging to the subfamily Rhinocerotinae is suggested to have lived around 16 million years ago.
The white rhinoceros and black rhinoceros are more closely related to each other than to other living rhinoceroses. Rhinoceroses closely related to the black and the white rhinoceros were present in Africa by the Late Miocene about 10 million years ago, and possibly as early as 17 million years ago. The two species may have descended from the Eurasian species "Ceratotherium" neumayri, but this is disputed. A 2021 genetic analysis estimated the split between the white and black rhinoceros at around 7 million years ago. After this split, the direct ancestor of Diceros bicornis, Diceros praecox was present in the Pliocene of East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania). D. bicornis is suggested to have evolved from this species during the Late Pliocene – Early Pleistocene, with the oldest definitive record at the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary c. 2.5 million years ago at Koobi Fora, Kenya.
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