Indian Rhino
Unlike the white rhino, black rhino and Sumatran rhino, the Indian rhino has only one horn on its nose instead of two. It and the closely related Javan rhino are the only living members of the genus Rhinoceros.
Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Chordata
Class - Mammalia
Order – Perissodactyla
Family – Rhinocerotidae
Genus - Rhinoceros
Species – R. unicornis
Common Name – Indian Rhinoceros, Indian Rhino, Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros, Great Indian Rhinoceros
Indian rhino cows (females) and calves travel in groups, while bulls (males) usually live largely on their own.
They are good swimmers and often bathe in muddy pools known as wallows. This helps to cool them off, as their thick folded skin can keep water tucked away long after their bathing is finished.
Indian rhinos eat mostly grass. They may also eat leaves and branches, fruits, flowers, and sometimes underwater plants.
They have almost no natural predators due to their large size. Tigers sometimes prey upon rhino calves, and very rarely are capable of taking down an adult rhino.
Indian rhino pregnancies last around 15 or 16 months. In the wild, most males do not mate until they are older than 15 years, while females are mature enough to mate at six years of age. Females typically do not mate until they reach a specific size, otherwise it may be dangerous to mate due to the large size of males.
The Indian rhinoceros has thick skin that resembles armor-like plating, with its folds and texture. They are nearly hairless, and their hide is gray in color. They have a single horn on their nose, unlike some other rhino species, such as the black rhino, white rhino, and Sumatran rhino, that all have two nose horns.
The horn is not made of bone, but rather keratin. This is the same substance that fingernails are made of. Younger rhinos do not have horns. They begin to grow them at about six years of age.
The Indian rhino is the second largest land mammal in Asia, behind the Asian elephant. They grow to over six feet tall at the shoulder, with a total length of nearly 12 ½ feet. They can weigh nearly 5,000 pounds.
Indian rhinos were of cultural significance to the ancient Indus Valley civilization. The goddess Dhavdi in the Hindu religion is said to ride an Indian rhinoceros.
Outside of Asia, the Indian rhinoceros was not well known for many centuries. A famous woodcut by the artist Albrecht Durer was created in 1515, based on a description of a rhino that was gifted to the king of Portugal. Durer did not see the actual rhinoceros, and his woodcut gets many details incorrect. Prints of this woodcut spread throughout Europe, and would be most Europeans' only exposure to the mysterious beast known as the rhinoceros for a very long time.
An Indian rhino named Clara became very popular in the mid-1700s, as she was toured around Europe and became the first living rhinoceros that many Europeans had ever seen.
Some believe that tales of the Indian rhinoceros, with its single horn, may have helped give rise to the myth of the Unicorn.
Indian rhinos are considered Vulnerable. The decline and destruction of their habitat is the main threat to these rhinos. Invasive plant species taking over native grasses (the rhino’s main food source), as well as increased flooding due to climate change, can damage the rhino’s habitat and harm their populations.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rhinoceros
Macdonald, David W. (editor). (2006). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Mammals. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
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