25 curiosities of the rhinos that you did not know

Curious Planet shares these 25 curiosities about rhinos. These curious facts about rhinos that you did not know will surely surprise you.

The rhinoceros is a well-known animal ,  its most outstanding characteristics are its horns and its size . This time we show you the curiosities of these pachyderms. 

Do you know which is the largest rhinoceros in history? 

Here you have  curious facts about rhinoceroses that have impressed me. Find out more fun facts .

Rhinoceros Curiosities

1. The word rhinoceros literally means “horned nose.” The word “rhinoceros” (ρινόκερος) comes from the Greek terms rhino (nose) and kera (horn).
2. The Spanish word abada means rhinoceros. It comes from Portuguese, and is currently in disuse.
3. There are five species of rhinos: the white and black rhinoceros in Africa, the Javan rhinoceros, the Indian rhinoceros and the Sumatran rhinoceros in Asia.
4. Not all rhinos have a horn. Both African species and the Sumatran rhino have two horns, while the Indian and Javan have only one.
5. What is rhino horn made of? Rhino horns are not bony, they are made of keratin, a component of our hair and nails.
6. Did you know that if the horn breaks in a fight, it can regenerate, even growing 7 cm a year?
7. The rhino’s horn never stops growing.
8. Rhino pregnancy lasts about 16 months.
9. The calves are small at birth, weighing about 65 kg in the case of the white and Indian rhinoceros and 40 kg in the case of the black rhino, and can keep up with their mothers three days after birth.
10. The average lifespan of a rhinoceros is a maximum of 60 years.
11. Although rhinos generally feed on leaves, their ability to ferment food in the colon allows them to survive by consuming more woody plant matter, such as roots and branches, if necessary. However, they prefer more nutritious and soft parts.
12. Unlike other species of perissodactyls, African rhinoceroses do not have teeth at the front of their mouths, but use powerful premolars and molars to chew on plant-based food.
13. Rhinos have very poor eyesight, yet their sense of smell is acute and their hearing is sensitive.
14. In South Africa, approximately 1,000 rhinos are killed each year due to poaching for the illegal rhino horn trade.
15. Adult rhinos have no natural predators. But, if there are different predators that attack only young rhinos. These predators are usually lions, hyenas, wild dogs and Nile crocodiles. However, the greatest threat to the rhino is humans. (Check out crocodile trivia .)
16. In the case of the white and Indian rhinos, the adult males are much larger than the females, but in the other species, the males and females are of similar size.
17. The Sumatran rhino is the smallest, the Indian rhino is the largest currently, and the White rhino is the heaviest.
18. The Siberian Unicorn or Elasmotherium sibiricum is the largest rhinoceros in history. The species lived in the Pleistocene epoch, thousands of years ago. The Elasmotherium was 2.7 meters tall and 6 meters long, it had a single 2 meter horn. It weighed about 10 tons or even more.
19. In Eurasian culture, the Siberian Unicorn ( Elasmotherium ) is the origin of the myth of the unicorn, a horse with a single horn in the middle of its forehead, which in later times was modified to take the romantic form with which the term is associated today. day.
20. The white rhinoceros and the black rhinoceros are the same color, gray.
21. You can go a maximum of five days without drinking water.
22. The thick rhinoceros skin, however, is quite sensitive to sunburn and insect bites.
23. Rhinos can sleep standing or lying down and sleep up to 8 hours a day, in intervals.
24. It can run at the speed of 55 km/h.
25. Bufágidos or picabueyes have a symbiotic relationship with rhinoceroses. They eat ticks, horseflies, larvae and other parasites that lodge in the skin.
    Previously it was believed that the relationship was mutualistic. But, the bufagids’ favorite food is blood, and while they extract bloody ticks, they also consume the blood directly on the rhino’s wounds. Therefore, it may be a parasitic relationship.