Tuesday, June 21, 2016

The differences in the 5 Rhino types

There is a huge difference between what kind of rhino you might be thinking about. The difference between a white rhino and a black rhino is that a white rhino has a square muzzle for its mouth and a black rhino has a pointy lip. A white rhino uses its square muzzle to trim grass so other animals can eat the grass easily. Other animals teeth are not set up for eating high grasses so the white rhinos trim the grass. A black rhino uses its pointy lip to eat bushes and fruit. The Javan, Sumatran, and Indian rhino also have pointy lips to eat bushes and fruit too.

Black & White Rhino
Photo Source: AfricaCries.com

The picture you see above is a real life picture of a black and white rhino. If you notice the white rhino has a square muzzle and the black rhino has a pointed upper lip. The white and black rhino aren't really white and black in fact both rhinos can be a gray to brown color.  A white rhino's horn is longer than a black rhinos horn.

(I got this information from a book called World of animals Large Herbivores 5. Written by Pat Morris and Amy Jane Beer.)

Black and White rhino
Photo Source: Dreams time.com



This is a picture of the difference between a black and white rhinoceros. If you look at the white rhino you'll see that the white rhino is bigger and the black rhino is smaller than a white rhino.

If you look at the picture below and look at the circled areas you will see the white rhinos square muzzle and the black rhinos pointed upper lip. The white rhino also has a bigger head than the black rhino because the white rhinos head is lowered to ground so the white rhino can trim on grass. the black rhino is a browser so the black rhino uses its pointed upper lip to grab on leaves, twigs, and bushes. (I read some of this information in a book called World of animals 5 large herbivores written by Pat Morris and Amy Jane Beer.)

Black and White Rhino
Photo Source: Pinterest.com

Map of where rhinos live
Photo Source: Businessinsider.com.au

The maps above shows the current locations where rhinos are in the wild. The map also shows how many rhinos are in that area in the wild. Currently the Javan rhino is the most out of the rhino species that can get extinct very soon. On the map you'll see that three out of the five rhino species are in Asia. The white and black rhinos are in africa.



Black and White Rhinos
Photo Source: Reddit.com


If you look at this black and white rhino picture you might notice that white rhinos use their square  muzzle to trim on grass and the black rhino uses its pointed upper lip to pull on twigs, leaves, and bushes. The black and white rhinos have teeth on the side of their mouth while the javan, sumatran, and indian rhinos have front teeth and use them as weapons. The black and white rhinos use their horns as weapons. The three asian rhinos use their horns to dig and dig up trees.










Sunday, May 15, 2016

What do you want to know about Rhinos?

I asked you to ask me questions and I would answer them. See below for the answers I have for you!



Question: Why do rhinos have a large horn and a small horn?

One-horned Rhino
Photo Source: world wildlife.org
Two-horned Rhino
Photo Source: telegraph.co.uk
Answer: I had a hard time trying to find an answer to this. Not all rhinos have two horns. Some only have one. The Black,White,and Sumatran rhinos have two horns but, Javan and Indian rhinos only have one horn. I did find is that some rhinos use their horns to direct their young and to dig holes in the ground. They also use them to protect themselves and their young. You might be interested to know that rhino horns are made of keratin.  That's the same material as human finger nails and human hair. I will keep on looking for the answer to this question! 

According to Wikipedia, Keratin - is the protein that protects epithelial cells from damage or stress. It is the key structural material making up the outer layer of human skin. It is also the key structural component of hair and nails, and it provides the necessary strength for masticatory organs, such as the tongue and the hard palate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keratin

The unnecessary use of rhino horns is discussed here:

http://blog.cifor.org/4876/killed-for-keratin-the-unnecessary-extinction-of-the-rhinoceros?fnl=en

PBS has some good information on the use of rhino horns: 

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/rhinoceros-rhino-horn-use-fact-vs-fiction/1178/

You can learn more about rhinos and their horns here:

https://www.ohio.edu/research/communications/r

Check out this link I found. It will give you more detail on the uses of rhino horns.

http://www.whyzz.com/why-do-rhinos-have-hornshino_horn.cfm



Question: Do they hang out with warthogs and fight turtles?

Answer: I liked this question. ;-) As you may know from watching episodes and movies of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rhinos are known as aggressive animals. I'd like to share a bit of information on this misconception.

Photo Source: IGN.com
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle episode Screenshot Image

Rhinos can be very dangerous if they feel threatened. But they are generally solitary, calm animals, which means that they keep to themselves unless someone bothers them. Rhinos have very poor eyesight, but their other senses are highly developed. They smell well. And they have really good hearing. They can be very dangerous if they feel threatened. The mother rhino will even fight a lion to protect her baby! It's most common for a Black Rhino to charge and fight but, a White Rhino would usually run away from danger. Rhinos have been known to ram a car filled with people if they're scared, but they may also run away from you to protect themselves! I wish that more people understood that rhinos aren't bullies. They're just very large and misunderstood animals. If someone came to hurt me or pick on my friends, I'd want to fight back too.

Photo Source: ComicVine.Gamespot.com
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle episode Screenshot Image
Here is a little bit of information about rhinos and their behaviors:


This link explains how a Black Rhino can be aggressive if it is scared and can't see it's possible predator:




Question/Statement: Rhinos can weigh up to 5,000 lbs!

Answer: Yes, they can! 

A White Rhino weighs almost 5,100 lbs when they're fully grown! 

White Rhino
Photo Source: en.wikipedia.org
Here is a link for the information I found for how much a White Rhino can weigh:



The Black Rhino can weigh 1,800 - 3,100 lbs when they're fully grown!

Black Rhino
Photo Source: snopes.com
Here is a link for the information I found for how much a Black Rhino can weigh:



The Indian Rhino can weigh up to 4,600 lbs when it is fully grown!

Indian Rhino
Photo Source: dailytwocents.com

Here is a link for the information I found for how much an Indian Rhino can weigh:


The Sumatran Rhino can weigh between 1,100 to 2,200 lbs when fully grown!

This is Emi! She is a Sumatran Rhino
Photo Source: en.wikipedia.com
I will share more about what I've learned about Emi in the future! Stay tuned for her story!

Here is a link for the information I found for how much a Sumatran Rhino can weigh:
The Javan Rhino can weigh between 1,500 to 2,000 lbs when fully grown!

The Javan Rhino
Photo Source: Panda.org
Here is a link for the information I found on how much a Javan Rhino weighs:


Here is a link with some information about the Javan Rhino:

Question/Statement: A friend of my mom's sent information for my blog to Rhino Conservationist Paul Blackthorne with Save The Rhinos! 

Save The Rino Logo, Photo Source:
www.savetherhino.org

Answer/Reply: This is very exciting!!! I would love to share more information about the work Paul does to help rhinos! Please see the link below for more about Paul and Save The Rhinos! Good job, Paul! Thank you for all you do to help my favorite animal!

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Identifying Different Kinds of Rhinos

Black Rhinos:

photo source: cawsmw.com

photo source: lewa.org

photo source: dfw.cbslocal.com

photo source: rhinosinfo.com

photo source: earthfirstjournal.org

photo source: lewa.org

White Rhinos:

photo source: en.wikipedia.com

photo source: rhinos.org

photo source: wwf.panda.org

photo source: savetherhino.org

photo source: hamiltonzoo.co.nz

Sumatran Rhinos:

photo source: animals.nationalgeographic.com

photo source: world wildlife.org

photo source: csmonitor.com

photo source: animalfactguide.com

photo source: rhinos.org

photo source: takepart.com

Javan Rhinos:

photo source: bioexpedition.com

photo source: youtube.com

photo source: theperfectworldfoundation.org

photo source: prezi.com

photo source: indonesiatravel.db.com

photo source: storyful.com

Indian Rhinos:

photo source: a-zanimals.com

photo source: blog.northjersey.com

photo source: zoochat.com

photo source: zooborns.com

photo source: conservenature.org

photo source: mnn.com






Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Conservation & The Pink Out

photo source: TheGuardian.com

Rhinoceroses are important to many ecosystems. There are 5 types of Rhinoceroses, the Black Rhino, the White Rhino, the Sumatran Rhino, the Indian Rhino, and the Javan Rhino. Another word for Rhinoceros is Rhino. The Black Rhino and the White Rhino are African and the Sumatran Rhino, the Indian Rhino, and the Javan Rhino are Asian. The Black Rhino, the White Rhino, and the Sumatran Rhino have 2 horns and the Indian Rhino and the Javan Rhino have 1 horn. The horns are made of a calcium named Keratin. Human hair and nails are made of Keratin too. Some people believe that a rhino's horn can be used to make medicine, but the medicine doesn't work at all. Taking a rhino's horn off is one of the reasons why there aren't that many rhinos left. When a rhino's horn is chopped off the rhino dies. Conservationists are trying different ways to help prevent from the horn being chopped off. One way Conservationists help with the horns is that the Conservationists try to spray a pink chemical on the horns so the poachers don't want to chop off the rhino's horn.

photo source: ScientificAmerican.com

photo source: TrueActivist.com

As you can see in the article below, this plan doesn't always stop poachers. 


photo source: RhinoRescueProject.org




Living with Orphaned Rhinos!

Please take a look at this amazing video about the Living With Orphaned Rhinos Volunteer Program in South Africa through Volunteer Southern Africa! And please meet John Watson, one of my personal heroes! He has many videos on youtube about animal conservation and this one on rhinos is my new favorite! It shows rhinos who live in the largest rhino orphanage in the world! There is a lot of information in it on the importance of conservation of rhinos. Rhinos will be extinct in ten years if we don't change their fate! It is my dream to become a rhino conservationist. So I thought, "Hmmm....why not start now?! Because kids can do amazing things too!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq6oDQUuGGc

It makes me really happy to know that there are programs like this in Africa to protect my favorite animal! I want to play with and take a jog with a baby rhino. And give one a bath. And feed it a bottle. But more than that, I want to see a baby rhino living in the wild with it's momma! They deserve to be safe. Poaching is the biggest reason for why rhinos may become extinct.

Thank you Jon Watson for this amazing video! Lofo and his friends are so cute! I hope that one day I can be a part of an experience like this one! Thank you for the work you did to share this message with the world!

If you have been inspired by this video, please contact the Volunteer Southern Africa group:

Living With Orphaned Rhinos volunteer program
https://www.volunteersa.com
Info@VolunteerSA.com



Welcome to Rhino Conservation Kid!


I would like to teach you about Rhino's & why I love them!
Stay tuned for more information!