EXTINCT ANIMALS 



rhinoceros most like it is the African square- 

 mouthed rhinoceros or Burc hell's rhinoceros 

 {Rhinoceros simus), misleadingly called some- 

 times the white rhinoceros (Fig. 100). Many 

 of the extinct kinds of rhinoceros had two horns, 

 one behind the other like the African rhinoceros. 

 The horn of the rhinoceros is truly horny in 



FiG. 100. — Photograph of a stuffed specimen of the square 

 mouthed African Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros simus) preserved 

 in the Natural History Museum. 



substance, and fibrous. It is not bone, as are the 

 horns of stags, nor has it a core of bone as have 

 the horns of sheep, cattle and antelopes. Some- 

 times, however, there is a fairly big boss of bone, 

 which forms a sort of base or pedestal for the 

 horny horn. One great extinct beast (the 

 Elasmotherium), allied to the rhinoceroses, had a 



144 



