The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

The colour of the so-called white rhinoceros is dark grey. The second species of African rhinoceros, which is also dark grey in colour, is known as the BLACK or PREHENSILE-LIPPED EHINOCEROS. Less than a hundred years ago the range of this fast-disappearing species extended from

The Elephant, Tapir, Hyrax, and Rhinoceros 187

the north-western districts of the Cape Colony to Abyssinia, and at that time it must have been plentiful over almost the whole of the intervening country. It never seems to have ispenetrated into the equatorial forest regions of West Central Africa, where the climate probably too damp to suit its requirements; for both species of African rhinoceros appear to like a dry climate, and not to object to very arid surroundings. At the same time they never wander many miles from a river or pool, and drink regularly every night, and in hot weather probably very often a second time in the early morning.

In Southern Africa the black rhinoceros appears to attain to a larger size than in the countries farther north To the south of the Zambesi large bulls of this species will stand 5 feet 8 inches at the shoulder; whilst the height of an adult bull, as taken by Mr. F. Jackson at Naivasha, in East Africa, was 5 feet 5 inches; and Mr. A. H. Neumann gives the standing height of another adult bull shot by himself still farther north, near Lake Kudolph, as only 4 feet 9 inches. It is now generally recognised that there is but one species of prehensile-lipped rhinoceros in Africa, though the horns, and especially the hinder one, differ in length and shape to such an extent that it was long thought that there were at least two distinct species, those with both horns of equal or nearly equal length having been distinguished from the more common form, with a comparatively short second horn, as the KEITLOA, this Photo by Korman B. Smith, Esq. being the name in BLACK AFRICAN RHINOCEROS. the Sechuana dialect This photograph, taken by a sportsman in Africa, shows a charging rhinoceros just before it was shot. for a prehensile-lipped rhinoceros with horns of equal length. Speaking on this subject, Mr. A. H. Neumann, who : " Length of hornhas had great experience with the black rhinoceros in East Africa, writes is a purely fortuitous individual trait; and the extremely long horns (mostly of females) which have occasionally been obtained from traders on the east coast, and brought home, are merely exceptionally fine specimens, selected from among large numbers brought to the coast (the bulk to China to be ground up into medicine), and do not belong to anyof which, I am told, go distinct species, nor come from any particular region. In proof of this contention I may mention that I have a 40-inch horn, the owner of which I myself shot at the northern base of the Jambeni Range (near Kenia), in a neighbourhood where I hunted a great deal and saw great numbers of rhinos, and shot a good many. The vast majority have quite short horns under a foot and anything over 18 inches is uncommon, while a length of 30 inches or upwards is extremely rare." The black rhinoceros, I believe, never eats grass, but browses on the young shoots of trees and bushes, which are often quite leafless and seem excessively dry. In this way it chews up and swallows great quantities of dry-looking twigs, much of which passes through its stomach undigested.

There has been a good deal of controversy as to the character and disposition of the black rhinoceros, some hunters and travellers regarding it as most dangerous and aggressive, whilst others are inclined to take an almost opposite view. That some black rhinoceroses are certainly aggressive and therefore dangerous animals, the experiences of C. J. Anderson and W. Cotton Oswell in South Africa many years ago? and of many travellers and hunters in East Africa during the last few years, certainly prove beyond a doubt; and as one never knows that any particular rhinoceros, when encountered, may not prove to be a vicious brute, a certain amount of caution should be employed in approaching one of these animals. 1 always found In my own experience that black rhinoceroses ran off at once on getting the wind of a human being; whilst, on the other hand, if they only

Photo by York Son] [Netting Hill. heard one approaching, they would come ST7MATRAX RHINOCEROS. This species of rhinoceros is the smallest of the three Oriental forms. It has towards the noise, and I have often two horns. known them to trot up to within twenty yards of where I was standing, snorting and puffing loudly; but as these animals always turned round and went off eventually without charging, I came to the conclusion that they were inquisitive and very short-sighted off at a gallop his usual pace,rather than vicious. When fired into, a black rhinoceros goes at a verywhen alarmed, being a very fast trot puffing and snorting loudly. He can gallop great pace, considering his size and weight; but a South African shooting-pony can easily come if pursued. In death a black rhinoceros will often sinkup with him, or get away from him if it were simply resting. Whendown on its knees, and remain in that position, looking as dying, it often gives vent to a pitiful squeal, the sound seeming very small and thin for so large a beast. The meat of the black rhinoceros is not ill-flavoured, and, if fat, very palatable; but as a rule these animals are very lean, and their flesh tough and coarse. The tongue, however, if well cooked, is always good; and the liver, if first roasted under the ashes, and then, after being beaten up in a native wooden mortar, cooked with rice and fat, makes a dish which is good enough for a hungry man.

During the making of the Uganda Eailway the engineers came upon something like a preserve of this species of rhinoceros, especially in the thick and waterless thorn jungle near the coast. The rhinoceros was almost the only animal, except the lion, which was able to penetrate the bush. As many as five of these animals were seen in one day when the line was being made; they did no injury to the coolies, other than by frightening them, and appeared to be stupid and by no means vigilant animals, perhaps because no other creature attacked them. The lion never meddles with a grown-up rhinoceros, though it might and is no larger than a full-grown pig.probably does kill a calf occasionally, when the latter The horns of some of these East African black rhinoceroses were of unusual length and thinness.

CHAPTER XII.

THE HORSE TRIBE.

ZEBRAS AND WILD ASSES.

BY P. C. SELOUS.

ZEBRAS. r I ^HE ZEBRAS have many points in common with the asses, from which latter group skins. BothJL of animals they are principally distinguished by their beautifully striped asses and zebras carry short, erect manes, and in both the upper portion of the tail is free from long hair. In both groups there are naked callosities on the fore legs only, whilst the head is larger in proportion to the size of the animal, and the ears longer than in the horse. In BURCHELL'S and GREVY'S ZEBRAS the hoof is intermediate between that of the horse and the ass; for although narrower than the hoof of the horse, it is broader and more rounded than that of the ass. In the TRUE ZEBRA, however, the hoof is thoroughly asinine in character, and the ears very long. The TRUE or MOUNTAIN ZEBRA appears never to have had a very extended range. It was once an inhabitant of all the mountainous regions of the Cape Colony as well as of the great Drakensberg Eange, and fifty years ago was also found amongst the rugged hills of Great Namaqualand. The mountain-zebra is the smallest of the group, standing only from 12 to 12| hands at the shoulder. It is a most beautiful animal, the whole of the head, body,?**- and limbs, with the exception of the HHHHHiBfc- fhoto by G ' w' Wilaon Co" Ltd^ under-parts and the insides of the MOUNTAIN-ZEBRA. fh'tmgnS,V, ViDeing Striped.f rl TV,ine ground-rl Tbe trae or mountain zebra is now becoming scarcer than formerly. At one time it Colour of the body is White, the Stripes was to be seen in great numbers on the mountains of Cape Colony. 189

of the World The Living Animals

being black and the muzzle bright brown. Both hind and fore legs are banded down to the hoofs. The stripes on the neck and body are narrower and more numerous than in Burchell's zebra, and on the hindquarters the median stripe, which runs down the centre of the back from the mane to the tail, is connected with the uppermost of the oblique longitudinal stripes by a series of short horizontal bars. The ears in this species are much larger than in Burchell's zebra. The true zebra seems Photo by W. P. Dando] {Regent's Park. never to have been an in-

GREVY S ZEBRA.

habitant of the plains, like This species of zebra comes from the Galla country, and lias narrower and more numerous stripes than the mountain-zebra. all its congeners, but to have confined its range entirely to mountainous districts. Speaking on this point, Captain (afterwards Sir) Cornwallis Harris wrote upwards of sixty years ago: "This beautiful and wary animal never of its own free will descends into the plain, as erroneously asserted by all naturalists, and it therefore never herds with either of its congeners, the quagga and Burchell's zebra, whose habitat is equally limited to the open and level lowlands. Seeking the wildest and most sequestered spots, the haughty troops are exceedingly difficult of approach, as well on account of their watchful habits and extreme agility and fleetness of foot, as from the abrupt and inaccessible nature of their highland abode." in An allied species, of which examples have been obtained by Mr. G. W. Penrice, occurs Benguela, Portuguese West Africa.

I once saw the carcase of a zebra stallion which had been sent by rail to the Cape Town Museum by a farmer living in the neighbourhood of the village of Worcester. This animal had come down from the mountains, and joined a troop of donkeys running on the farm. Its intrusion was, however, resented by a male donkey, which fought with and overpowered it, and, having seized it with its teeth by the back of the neck, held it fast until it was secured by itsthe farmer and his men. The captured animal, however, refused food, and soon died, when for preservation.carcase was sent to the Cape Museum

GREVY'S ZEBRA is the largest and perhaps the handsomest of all the zebras. This fine animal is an inhabitant of Eastern Africa, its range extending from the central portion of Somaliland southwards to the Tana Eiver. It appears to be plentiful in the country between Mount Kenia and Lake Rudolph, but has not, I believe, been met with to the west of that lake. Full-grown specimens of Grevy's zebra will stand from 14 to 15 hands at the shoulder^ with a girth of body immediately behind the shoulders of nearly 5 feet. The arrangement of the stripes in this species differs considerably both from that of the mountain-zebra of the Cape Colony and also from Burchell's zebra. The body-stripes are very narrow, numerous, and deep black in colour, and are separated by equally narrow white bands. The longitudinal stripes on the haunches are also shorter and finer than in any other species of zebra, and on the top of the quarters there is a white unstriped space on each side of the median line which runs down the centre of the back from the neck to the tail. The belly and insides of the thighs are white, and the legs banded right down to the hoofs as in the mountain-zebra, and the ears are as large as in that species.