160 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



HAIRY-EARED SUMATRAN RHINOCEROS 



This species is found in Eastern Bengal and in the .Ma/ay Peninsula and 

 adjacent large islands 



I HE RHINOCEROS. 



BY F. C. SELOUS. 



Of the five existing species of Rhino- 

 ceros, three are found in Asia, whilst two 

 are inhabitants of Africa. 



Of the three Asiatic species, two, the 



Indian and the Javan, are one-horned, and 



"Wk have a single pair of broad incisor teeth in 



the upper jaw, and a pair of sharp-edged and 

 pointed tusks in the lower, the nasal bones 

 being long and narrow, and terminating in 

 a point. In both these species the skin is 

 hairless (except for tufts or fringes at the 

 extremity of the tail and on the edges of 

 the ears), and is arranged in shield-like folds 

 over the body. The arrangement of these 

 folds, however, differs somewhat in the two 

 species, and the large round tubercles with 

 which the skin of the great Indian rhinoceros 

 is profusely studded are wanting in the Javan 

 species. 



The Indian Rhinoceros inhabit-- the 

 Terai at the foot of the Himalaya from Bhutan 

 to Nepal, and is said to be very abundant in 

 Assam and the Bhutan Dooars. It frequents 

 swamp)- ground, and lives amongst jungles and dense growths of reeds and grass, which attain a height 

 sometimes of 20 feet, and ci iver vast areas of ground in the valley of the Brahmaputra and other rivers. 

 Owing to the nature of the country in which it lives, the Indian rhinoceros cannot often be 

 hunted with much prospect of success, except with the aid of elephants, which sagacious animals 

 are not only employed to carry the hunters, but are also used to beat the great grass jungles in 

 which the rhinoceroses lie hidden, and drive Ehem towards the guns. 



Despite its great size and strength, the Indian rhinoceros seems to be regarded as, in 

 general, a timid and inoffensive animal, and even when wounded it seldom charges home. 

 Elephants, however, appear to be as a rule nervous when in the near proximity of rhinoceroses, 

 perhaps objecting to the smell of those animals. When the Indian rhinoceros doc- make good 

 its charge against either man or elephant, it cuts and rips its enemy with its teeth, and makes 

 little use of its horn .1- an offensive weapon. 



The Indian rhinoceros is said to live principally, if not entirely, on grass and reeds. .\- ,1 

 rule it is a solitary animal, but sometime- several are found living in a comparatively small extent 

 of grass-covered plain. 



Large male- of this species will stand from 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet at the shoulder, and they 

 are enormously bulk}-. Both sexes carry well-developed horns, which, however, do not usually 

 attain a length of upwards of 12 inches. There i- a specimen in the British Museum measuring 

 19 inches, and it i- believed that in very exceptional instances a length of 2 feet has been attained. 

 The [avan Rhinoi EROS, though it has been called the Lesser Indian Rhinoceros, is said by 

 a late authority -Mr. C. E. M. Russell -to stand about the same height at the shoulder as the 

 Indian species. It i- found in the Sunderbunds of Eastern Bengal, .uu\ has been met with in the 

 Sikhim Terai and in Assam, ranging eastwards through Burma and the Malay Peninsula to 

 Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. 



