A Perpective on the Black Rhino

wildlife species whose very existence is greatly threatened. The

continent has seen a drop in Black Rhino numbers from 65,000 in

1970 to around 2,000 at present due overwhelmingly to poaching (Voyage Publishing, 1996). See Exhibit 1 below for a graphic representation of Black Rhino population dropoff.

The etymological description of the Rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis, is drawn from Greek and Latin roots. Diceros is from the Greek di, meaning "two" and ceros, meaning "horn". Bicornis is from the Latin bi, again meaning "two" and cornis, again meaning

(Source: Sebakwe Black Rhino Trust, 1998)

"horn". It is this aspect of the Rhino=s physicality, the Rhino=s horn, which has added the words Aendangered species@ to almost any description of Rhinoceri.

Five species of Rhino exist today  the white (or squarelipped) and Black (or hooked lip) rhinos in Africa, each with two horns, and Sumatran (hairy and twohorned), and the

greater (Indian) onehorned and lesser onehorned, or Javan, rhinos in Asia. All still have a prehistoric look with their great bulk, rugged features and their distinctive prominent horns. But their ancestor, who lived 50 million years ago in the Oligocene, looked more like a miniature horse and had a flat, hornless head (Stuart, C. & T).

The first traces of horned rhinos were found in North America, where

. . .
., Straw , M., 1998). Habitat Black rhinos live in open tree and bush savanna, thorn scrub and lower slopes of mountains. They eat the roots, twigs and leaves of the small trees, saplings, and plants. The living habits of the Black rhinos are quite ordinary for large land animals. Living alone or in small family groups, and they are extremely territorial(Rosenthal, D. 1996). Their home territory always includes at least one water hole, and occasionally a mud wallow. The boundaries are defined by dung heaps left by males at regular intervals. The males visit the boundaries frequently to deposit more droppings, so the line is extremely evident. The males scatter the heaps with their horns and hind legs to form patches about six feet across. The probable reason for this is to warn other males that they are trespassing, and also to advertise their own presence to single females who may thus be encouraged to enter their territory (Rosenthal, D. 1996). Population Statistics Kenya holds an estimated total of 450 Black Rhino, fragmented into 2 populations by mid1995. Almost half of these populations are small groups of Rhino numbering ten or less, usually remnant groups from previously much larger populations. These larger po
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Black Rhino, Burnett Straw, Habitat Black, Elephant Journal, Background Five, Rhino Foundation, Rhino African, South Africa, Middle East, Stone Age, black rhino, online available, black rhinos, black rhinoceros, burnett straw, rhino 1999, black rhino 1999, assisted breeding, national park, habitat african black, adjoining yards, rhino horn, international rhino foundation, burnett straw 1998, 1999 online available,
Approximate Word count = 1875
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)