Ep. 152: Rhinoceros – 5 Species

August 25, 2024 Peter Jans

Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode we will be getting back to the animal world and will be on the second-largest mammal on Earth the Rhinoceros otherwise known as the Rhino.

A herbivorous mammal the rhinoceros is known for their distinctive horns for which they have either one or two, the shape of their snouts, and their thick armour-like skin which can be up to 5 cm thick. Primarily solitary animals, except for the mothers and their calves they are found in savannas, grasslands, and tropical forests.

Though their eyesight is poor this is compensated by their excellent sense of smell and hearing which helps them negotiate their challenging environment. Though they are massive in size they can reach speeds of around 50 km/hr depending on the species.

Again, and extremely unfortunately as I have mentioned with many other animals, they are endangered due to poaching and habitat loss. Their horns are highly sought after for medicinal purposes, though it has been proven that no medical health benefit exists.

Surprisingly the rhino has not been that well represented in cartoons. I can definitely remember one in “The Hurculoids” who was called Tundro who had ten legs and four horns who used to shoot energy rocks from his cannon-horn. Other rhinoceros cartoon characters include the Marvel character Rhino, Rambi the Rhinoceros in the “Donkey Kong Series,” and the Disney character, Rocky the Rhino, amongst others.

Today’s mnemonic will be on the five species of Rhino.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rhinoceros_in_South_Africa_adjusted.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

A rhinoceros (/raɪˈnɒsərəs/; from Ancient Greek ῥινόκερως (rhinókerōs) 'nose-horned'; from ῥίς (rhis) 'nose' and κέρας (kéras) 'horn';[1] pl.: rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae; it can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species of the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea. Two of the extant species are native to Africa, and three to South and Southeast Asia.

Rhinoceroses are some of the largest remaining megafauna: all weigh at least one tonne in adulthood. They have a herbivorous diet, small brains 400–600 g (14–21 oz) for mammals of their size, one or two horns, and a thick 1.5–5 cm (0.59–1.97 in), protective skin formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure. They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter when necessary. Unlike other perissodactyls, the two African species of rhinoceros lack teeth at the front of their mouths; they rely instead on their lips to pluck food.[2]

Rhinoceroses are killed by poachers for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market for high prices, leading to most living rhinoceros species being considered endangered. The contemporary market for rhino horn is overwhelmingly driven by China and Vietnam, where it is bought by wealthy consumers to use in traditional Chinese medicine, among other uses. Rhino horns are made of keratin, the same material as hair and fingernails, and there is no good evidence of any health benefits.[3][4][5] A market also exists for rhino horn dagger handles in Yemen, which was the major source of demand for rhino horn in the 1970s and 1980s.[6]

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White_rhinoceros_head_-_Sofia_zoo_-_2.jpg

Mnemonic

Rhinoceros – 5 Species Mnemonic – Black & White Illustrate Jaded Sight

(Picture yourself standing in front of the best-known rhinos the black and white rhino and staying dead still as you know they have poor eyesight)

1. Black Rhino

2. White Rhino

3. Indian Rhino

4. Javan Rhino

5. Sumatran Rhino

Five Fun Facts

1. There are five species of Rhino in the world. This includes two African rhino species which are the black and white rhino. While the remaining three species are Asian which include the Indian rhino otherwise known as the greater one-horned rhino, the Sumatran rhino, and the Javan rhino.

2. As stated earlier the Rhino is the second-largest mammal on the Earth. The white rhino which is the largest can weigh up to 3,500 kg or well over three tonnes. On the other end of the spectrum, the Sumatran rhino is the smallest but can still weigh up to 600 kg.

3. The black and white rhinos are in fact not black and white. They are actually grey which came about because of confusion of the Afrikaans word for wide which was “wyd” which referred to the white rhino’s wide square lip. Early English explorers mistook this word for ‘white’ and consequently named this species ‘white’ rhino, and the other ‘black’ rhino to differentiate.

4. The Rhinoceros horn is made up of the same material as our hair and fingernails which is keratin. Indian and Javan rhinos have one horn whilst the black, white, and Sumatran Rhinos have two. The record length for one of these horns is around a massive 150cm or 60 inches long.

5. The rhino has poor vision but this is made up with their strong sense of smell which they use to smell the poo and urine of other rhinos to know who is in the area. Other forms of communication include growling and ‘trumpet calls’ during confrontations, snorting when angry, sneeze-like calls when scared, and the sound ‘mmwonk’ when relaxed.

Now just speaking of relaxed rhinos, in my research I read a story where a police officer saw a man driving around in a pickup truck with a rhino in the cab.

Anyway, he pulled the guy over and said ... "You can't drive around with a rhino in this town! Take him to the zoo immediately." The guy said "OK"... and he drove away.

The next day, the officer sees the same guy still driving around with a rhino, but this time the Rhino is wearing sunglasses. He pulls the guy over and says ... "I thought I told you to take this rhino to the zoo yesterday?" And, the guy replied ... "Yeah I did . . . today I'm taking him to the beach!"

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indian_Rhino_(Rhinoceros_unicornis)1_-_Relic38.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. What is the collective noun for a group of rhinos?

Q.2. What do you call a male rhino, and what do you call a female rhino?

Q.3. Which rhinoceros species is covered in a reddish-brown hair?

Bonus Q. How long is the gestation period of a rhinoceros? Options are 11 to 12 months, 15 to 16 months, or 19 to 20 months

Mnemonic Recap

Rhinoceros – 5 Species Mnemonic – Black & White Illustrate Jaded Sight

(Picture yourself standing in front of the best-known rhinos the black and white rhino and staying dead still as you know they have poor eyesight)

1. Black Rhino

2. White Rhino

3. Indian Rhino