The family of all modern rhinoceros, the Rhinocerotidae, first appeared in the Late Eocene in Eurasia. The amynodontids were hippopotamus-like in their ecology and appearance, inhabiting rivers and lakes, and sharing many of the same adaptations to aquatic life as hippos. The Amynodontidae, also known as "aquatic rhinos", dispersed across North America and Eurasia, from the late Eocene to early Oligocene. The hyracodontids spread across Eurasia from the mid-Eocene to early Miocene. Like a giraffe, it ate leaves from trees. The hornless Indricotherium was almost seven metres high, ten metres long, and weighed as much as 15 tons. The smallest hyracodontids were dog-sized the largest was Indricotherium, believed to be one of the largest land mammals that ever existed. Hyracodontidae, also known as 'running rhinos', showed adaptations for speed, and would have looked more like horses than modern rhinos. Three families, sometimes grouped together as the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea, evolved in the late Eocene: Hyracodontidae, Amynodontidae and Rhinocerotidae. This small hornless ancestor resembled a tapir or small horse more than a rhino. Fossils of Hyrachyus eximus found in North America date to this period. The extinct woolly rhinoceros of northern Europe and Asia was also a member of this tribe.Īccording to Wikipedia: Rhinocerotoids diverged from other perissodactyls by the early Eocene period (56 to 34 million years ago). The Sumatran rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (about 20 million years ago). There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the Indian rhinoceros and the Javan rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago. The species diverged during the early Pliocene (about 5 million years ago). The two African species, the white rhinoceros and the black rhinoceros, belong to the Dicerotini group, which originated in the middle Miocene, about 14.2 million years ago. The five living species of rhinoceros fall into three categories. In many ways they are more similar to the large extinct mammals that roamed the earth millions of years ago than they are to modern mammals. They belong to one of the oldest mammal families. Rhinos are not closely related to any other animals. White rhinoceros, the largest rhino species, weigh up to 4,500 pounds but on average are larger than hippos. Hippopotami can weigh as much as four tons (the size of a whale) but average around 3,000 pounds. There is some debate as to which are larger: hippopotami or rhinoceroses. Members of the rhinoceros family are characterized by their large size (all species can reach a weight of one ton or more) their herbivorous diet small brains and large horn. Kenya has the third largest population with 300 white rhinoceros and 600 black rhinoceros. India has the second largest population with about 2,200 Indian rhinoceros. South Africa has the largest population with 18,563 white rhinoceros and 1,570 black rhinoceros. According to Save the Rhino there are 20,165 white rhinoceros, 4,880 black rhinoceros, 2,850 Indian rhinoceros, 200 Sumatran rhinoceros and 50Javan rhinoceros. Most live in carefully guarded and managed game parks and reserves in South Africa. There are only about 25,000 rhinos in the world. Rhinoceros belong to the order Perissodactyla (odd-toed ungulates, or a mammal with hooves that feature an odd number of toes), the suborder Ceratomorpha the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea and the family Rhinocerotidae. The black rhino is smaller than the white, weighing up to about 3,000 pounds, but it’s more quarrelsome.” But the big feathered ears are acutely sensitive, as are its vast snuffling nasal passages. (“Rhinoceros” means “nose horn.”) Its eyes are dim little poppy seeds low on the sides of its great skull. A white rhino can stand six feet at the shoulders and weigh 6,000 pounds or more, with a horn up to six feet in length, and a slightly shorter one just behind. They are massive creatures, second only to elephants among modern land animals, with folds of thick flesh that look like protective plating. Richard Conniff wrote in Smithsonian magazine, “The peculiar appeal of rhinos is that they seem to have lumbered straight out of the Age of Dinosaurs. A group of rhinos is called a "crash" or “herd.” The plural in English is rhinoceros or rhinoceroses. The word rhinoceros is derived through Latin from the Ancient Greek rhino ("nose") and keras ("horn"). The rhinoceros are the world's second largest land animal after the elephant.
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