![rhinoceros african rhinoceros african](https://www.tusk.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-Girl-On-The-Hill-Rhino-WWW-1440x911.jpg)
Found in South and East Africa, white rhinos inhabit dry, bushy savannah and. Zakouma National Park in Chad is now home to six black rhinos, the new set of residents reminiscent of an earlier time for the Central African countrys oldest. Despite this, they are used in Chinese medicine for an array of unrelated illnesses fueling the rhino horn trade. There are 5 species of rhinoceros, the white rhino being the biggest. The word rhinoceros comes from the Greek word rhino meaning nose and the word ceros which means horn. The rhino horn is made out of simple keratin the same protein as our and all mammals’ hair and nails are made from. Rhinoceroses have been living on our planet for millions of years. The black rhino has been the victim of persecution for being seen as volatile and dangerous over the 20th century, but in recent years its major threat comes from poaching for the international rhino horn trade. Their population decreased by a massive 96% between 19, the largest decline of any rhino species. The black rhino has a prehensile (or grasping) upper lip, which it uses to draw plant material into its mouth. Rhinos, along with equids and tapirs, are the only surviving members of an ancient and formerly diverse group of ungulates, which originated around 50 million years ago.
![rhinoceros african rhinoceros african](https://www.awf.org/sites/default/files/styles/vertical_image/public/2020-03/Website_SpeciesPage_Rhinoceros03_01_Solutions.jpg)
Black rhinos have a prehensile, meaning hooked, lip for pulling leaves off branches. It in turn occurs as two subspecies, the southern and the northern. The black rhinoceros has four subspecies, one of which was declared extinct in 2011, with two others critically endangered. Fun facts about rhinos Rhinoceros is a Greek word. The white or square-lipped rhino is one of two rhino species in Africa.