182 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Photo by W. P. Dando 



HAIRY-EARED SUMATRAN RHINOCEROS 



This specie* if found in Eastern Bengal and in the Malay Peninsula and 

 adjacent large islands 



THE 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 

 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 inhabits 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 



swampy ground, and lives amongst jungles and dense growths of reeds and grass, which attain a height 

 sometimes of 20 feet, and cover 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 them 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 does 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 as an offensive weapon. 



The Indian rhinoceros is said to live principally, if not entirely, on grass and reeds. As a 

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

 of grass-covered plain. 



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

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

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

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

 The JAVAN RHINOCEROS, 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 is found in the Sunderbunds of Eastern Bengal, and has been met with in the 

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

 Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. 



