184 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



But little appears to be known of the habits of this species of rhinoceros. Although it is 

 found in the swampy grass-covered plains of the Sunderbunds, its more usual habitat seems to be 

 hilly forest-covered country, and both in Burma and Java it ascends to a height of several 

 thousand feet above sea-level. It feeds principally upon leaves and the young shoots of trees 

 and bushes. In disposition it is timid and inoffensive. Only the male carries a horn, which, 

 being very short, is a very poor trophy for a sportsman. 



The third Asiatic species of rhinoceros, known as the SUMATRAN, is the smallest of all living 

 rhinoceroses. This species carries two horns, and its skin, which is very rough, is usually thinly 

 covered with hair of a dark brown colour and of considerable length. The folds in the skin of 

 the Sumatran rhinoceros are not nearly so well developed as in its single-horned relatives, and 

 the one behind the shoulders is alone continued over the back. Although furnished with tusks 

 in the lower jaw, the small pair of incisor teeth, which in the other two Asiatic rhinoceroses are 

 always present in front of these tusks, are wanting in the Sumatran species. 



The Sumatran rhinoceros is rare in Assam, but is found in Burma and the Malay Peninsula, 

 as well as in Siam, Sumatra, and Borneo. The two horns of this species are placed at some 



distance apart. Although they are as 

 a rule very short, the front horn oc- 

 casionally grows to a considerable 

 length, sweeping backwards in a grace- 

 ful curve. 



In height adult males of the Su- 

 matran species stand on the average 

 from 4 feet to 4*^ feet at the shoulder, 

 and females sometimes not more than 

 3 feet 8 inches. 



Like the Javan rhinoceros, the 

 Sumatran species is by preference an 

 inhabitant ot hilly, forest-covered 

 country, and browses on the leaves 

 and shoots of trees and bushes. It is 

 a timid and inoffensive animal, soon 

 becoming tame in captivity. Its flesh 

 is said to be much appreciated by the 

 Dyaks of Borneo ; and as its horns are 



of value for export to China, where they are used for medicinal purposes, it has of late years 

 very much decreased in numbers in the province of Sarawak, but is more plentiful in Central and 

 North Borneo. Living as it does in dense jungle, it is an animal which is seldom seen by 

 European sportsmen, and its habits in a wild state have never been yet very closely studied. 



Turning to the two species of rhinoceros which inhabit the continent of Africa, both are 

 double-horned, and neither furnished with incisor teeth, the nasal bones being thick, rounded, 

 and truncated in front. Both, too, are smooth-skinned and entirely hairless, except on the edge 

 of the ears and extremity of the tail, which are fringed or tufted. 



Of the two African species, the WHITE or SQUARE-MOUTHED RHINOCEROS is the larger and 

 the rarer. Until quite recently the range of this huge ungainly-looking animal, the biggest of 

 all terrestrial mammals after the elephant, was supposed to be entirely confined to the southern 

 portions of the African Continent ; for although from time to time horns had found their way to 

 Zanzibar which seemed referable to the square-mouthed rhinoceros, the fact of the existence of 

 the white rhinoceros in any part of Africa north of the Zambesi remained in doubt until a female 

 was shot in the year 1900, in the neighbourhood of Lado, on the Upper Nile, by Captain A. St. 

 H, Gibbons, who brought its skin, skull, and horns to England. The fact, however, that the 



Phttt by York & Son} [Nottmg Hill 



GREAT INDIAN RHINOCEROS 



This species inhabits the grass jungles of Northeastern India 



