HOOK-LIPPED OR BLACK RHINOCEROS 651 



Typical Black Rhinoceros 



Diceros bicornis bicornis 



Native Names: Swahili, jam; Masai, emune; Kikuyu, huria; Kikamba, 

 •mbuzya. 



Rhinoceros bicornis Linnaeus, 1758, Systema Naturae, 10 ed., p. 56. 



Range. — In East Africa from German East Africa 

 northward to the south bank of the Tana River, westward 

 through northern Uganda as far as the east bank of the 

 Nile, and north as far as Mongolia and the north end of 

 Lake Rudolf; west of the Victoria Nyanza the northern 

 distribution is limited by the Kagera River; absent from 

 Uganda proper, the Kavirondo country, and the moist, 

 tropical coast belt from the Sabaki River southward. 



The black rhinoceros has an extensive range in Africa 

 from the Cape region northward to Upper Egypt and from 

 the East Coast westward to Nigeria. It is lacking through- 

 out the whole Congo basin and also locally throughout 

 much of the range as here defined. Large rivers have a 

 peculiar effect in limiting its dispersal locally. In the upper 

 Nile region it is found only on the east bank and in northern 

 German East Africa it is found no farther north than the 

 south bank of the Kagera River. Moist or damp tropical 

 districts seem to be distasteful to it, and on this account 

 it is lacking from the Congo basin, central and western 

 Uganda, and the moist strip of lowland flanking the East 

 Coast from Mombasa southward. Dense upland forest 

 is also avoided by them, although they may be found at 

 times in the lower parts of such forests or in thick bush 

 bordering them. 



The black rhinoceros is still found in Upper Egypt in 

 the provinces of Kassala and Senaar and also in the Lake 

 Chad region. From the Cape region of South Africa it 

 seems to have been first made known to European civ- 

 ilization in 1650. At the present time it is quite extinct 

 in the Cape Colony and the region just north of it, and is 

 not found in a wild state except in remote districts near 

 the Zambesi River. Formerly, in this region, the rhinoce- 

 roses were separated into two races, on the basis of horn 

 shape, the normal one in which the front horn greatly ex- 



