THIS IS AN EMERGENCY !!!!!

                       THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!!!

WHAT IS A BLACK RHINOS

The black rhinoceros or hook-lipped rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and central Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Angola. Although the rhinoceros is referred to as black, its colors vary from brown to gray.
The other African rhinoceros is the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). The word "white" in the name "white rhinoceros" is a misinterpretation of the Afrikaans word wyd, itself derived from the Dutch word wijd for wide, referring to its square upper lip, as opposed to the pointed or hooked lip of the black rhinoceros. These species are now sometimes referred to as the square-lipped (for white) or hook-lipped (for black) rhinoceros.The species overall is classified as critically endangered, and one subspecies, the western black rhinoceros, was declared extinct by the IUCN in 2011.

  

WHY IS THE BLACK RHINOS ENDANGER?

The reason why the black rhinos are being endanger is that poachers are killing them for their valuable horns used for making medicines, decorative pieces, piano chords and more. The Black Rhinos are an endangered species because at the time when their was plenty of rhinos everyone just kept on killing them until they hardly found anymore around (There are about 3600 rhinos left on planet earth).

AKA	The hook-lipped rhino
Scientific name	Diceros Bicornis
Current range	Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, S Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Height	1.6m
Weight	900 - 1,350kg
Status	Critically endangered
Population	4,880
Rhino fact	Black rhino are most active during the night-time when most of their foraging and drinking is done.

Common name: black rhino
Synonym: hook-lipped rhino
Scientific name: Diceros bicornis: “Di" meaning "two", "cerato" meaning "horn" in Greek and "bi" meaning "two", and "cornis" meaning "horn" in Latin. There are four or five subspecies of the black rhino:

1. Western Diceros bicornis longipes
2. Eastern Diceros bicornis michaeli
3. SouthWest Diceros bicornis bicornis
4. SouthCentral Diceros bicornis minor 
5. And possibly Diceros bicornis bruceii.

Physical Characteristics

• Size: the black rhino is the smaller of the two African species.
• Weight: Adult males weigh up to 1,350 kg and females up to 900 kg. Weight at birth: 35-45kg.
• Shoulder height: black rhinos stand at approximately 1.6 m tall at the shoulder
• Skin colour: there is actually no colour difference between the white and black rhino. They are both of a dark grey colour, but this can vary depending on local soil conditions, (as rhinos tend to wallow in the mud or dust, their skin may vary in colour accordingly).
• Hair: they only have hair on the ears, tail tips and eyelashes.
• The horn: black rhino have two horns, which grow continually from the skin at their base throughout their life (like human fingernails).  Rhinos from different areas can have horns of different shapes and sizes also vary. The shape of the horn also differs between sexes: with males tending to have thicker horns, and the females often longer and thinner ones. The horn is comprised of thousands of compressed hair-like strands of keratin (like hair and fingernail fibres), making it extremely hard and tough, but it can be broken or split during fighting. The front (anterior) horn is longer than the rear (posterior) horn, averaging at around 50 cm long.
• Distinctive characteristics: black rhinos are smaller than white rhinos, and have less of a pronounced hump on the back of their necks. They have a smaller head also, as unlike the white rhino, they are browsers, so eat from higher bushes or trees, requiring less muscle strength around their necks than white rhinos. The most distinguishable characteristic between a black and a white rhino is that black rhinos have a hooked lip, as opposed to a flat-based lip, which is related to their eating habits.

     
        
       

WHERE DO BLACK RHINOS LIVE?

The places the black rhinos live are southern and eastern Africa, including: Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Angola. The black rhino can live in a range of habitats where there is sufficient resources to support them. When looking for a new residence, rhinos will tend to look for somewhere with a healthy supply of shrubs and woody herb and plat-life occur, and also a place with a nearby water source and mineral licks, that is within at least a 5- 10 mile radius. This spans a wide range of habitats in Africa, including: semi-desert savannah, woodlands, forests and wetlands.