Rhinos

Of all the animals we saw in Africa the Rhinoceros was one of my favorites. There is just something so almost prehistoric about them.  Our guides said that at the current rate of poaching they might well be extinct in the wild in about 10 years.  The rangers have been given orders to shoot poachers on sight. An average sized rhino horn is worth close to a quarter of a million dollars in Vietnam.  The poachers are paid something like $10,000 and if caught they can spend 20 - 25 years in prison. $10,000 is probably more than a year's salary for most people in Africa.  I am sure that because of the extreme poverty there will always be men willing to take the risk. Unfortunately these middle men are the ones punished and the actual salesmen who make the big money go free.  It seems to me that the only way to stop rhino poaching is a media campaign in the far east to teach people that rhino horn is not an aphrodisiac; in reality rhino horn is very similar to a horse's hoof.  Our guides told us the horns were made of compressed hair, but I've just read on the internet that actually they are keratin, like hair, fingernails and hooves. 

 

We spent a long time watching these two mothers and their babies interact.  The mother on the left didn't seem to be too friendly. Male rhinos are solitary creatures while females are usually more social.  Mothers keep their babies with them for as long as 3 years, although they are likely to throw the male babies out earlier! 

On one side of the road was a water hole and on the other a beautiful meadow so the rhinos crossed the road very close to the jeeps.  It was just thrilling being this close to these giants!

Even weighing up to 2 tons they are very agile and can run at speeds of 30 miles per hour and can turn quickly in small spaces.  No one was tempted to get out of the jeep for a really great photo up close and personal with a rhinoceros!

Notice the birds on his back.  They are called 'Oxpeckers' and they have a symbiotic relationship with the rhinoceros. Their swahili name is 'askari wa kifaru', meaning 'the rhino's guard'.  The birds eat ticks they find on the rhino's skin and noisily warn of danger.  Of course the only real predator for a full grown rhino is man.

Another interesting fact about rhinos is that the males make a 'midden' or toilet.  They defecate and then stomp around in it and walk around the area that they consider to be their territory, thus marking the area as theirs.  When another male or a female not in heat come through the area they defecate on the edges to indicate that they are just passing through.  When a female in heat comes by, she leaves her 'calling card' so to speak, right in the middle.  It is an invitation, "Hey big boy, I'm here, come and find me!"

Sorry that may have been too much info and too icky a photo but I think it is quite interesting.  Maybe I've spent too much time with dogs!