ZOOLOGICAL 
SOCIETY 
BULLETIN 85 
WALLOWING PLACE OF WHITE RHINOCEROSES 
Tracks and churned-up mud marks of an early morning frolic at the edge of a pool, a few feet below the level of the savannah. 
The 
Here I was in a real trap. 
Rhinoceros tent was securely closed and mos- 
Herd quito-proof as well. With rhin- 
Invades ar | : 
Sleeping oceroses in front I could not open 
: g 
it and even the noise of ripping 
the back might make things worse. 
Camp 
Carefully unhooking one corner, I peered out. 
There in the darkness fifteen yards away, four 
monsters were sniffing at the ashes in front of 
one of the shelters, from which the natives had 
long since fled. For ten minutes Matari and I 
anxiously watched our uninvited guests wander 
about. Finally one of them ran into a pole sup- 
porting a crate upon which a skeleton was stored 
out of reach of hyenas and leopards. With a 
crash the platform came down, and then great 
was our relief and surprise to see the night- 
prowlers make off at a fair pace. 
Hardly were they out of camp when the fires 
were burning again brightly. Native dances 
started and songs rang through the midnight 
air. Over and over echoed the monotonous re- 
frain: “The rhinos’ strength was bewitched. and 
like sheep they had to leave the white man’s 
camp. 
I had always supposed that the 
Visual sight of these animals, known to 
Powers be poor, was more acute at night 
of the ; ; 
White than during the day. But though 
Rhinoceros one of the rhinoceroses had stared 
in my direction for a considerable 
time during this visit, his interest was not 
aroused, even when I later moved around. The 
orbits are small and well protected by a series 
of skin folds or pads that effectively shield 
them from injuries during wild stampedes. 
Visual power certainly plays but a small part 
in agitating the usually sullen mood into fury. 
Should a rhinoceros hold its head in a horizontal 
position the eyes would naturally look obliquely 
up toward the sky. The curious angle at which 
the eyes are placed suggests that they are 
chiefly used at close range, as during grazing. 
But it is generally believed that favorable con- 
ditions may permit them to recognize at a hun- 
dred yards what ordinarily is out of their range 
at thirty. 
The sense of smell is admirably 
Sense developed, but often places the 
Oo ° . . . 
Smell rhinoceroses in the sorry plight of 
having to content themselves with 
only such hazy information as the wind will 
carry. Bewilderment, which is coupled with 
their hesitation and fear, may be the natural 
result of their inability 
danger confronts them. Like men of the old 
stone age, with but few implements for defense 
or attack compared with the multitude of de- 
structive weapons in our times, the rhinoceros 
to define clearly what 
seems to lag ages behind in the development of 
its various senses. But relying on smell and 
hearing, backed up by two tons of weight and 
irresistible power, it might exist for centuries to 
come and succumb to none of the ordinary dang- 
ers of attack, if it were not hopelessly doomed 
by modern firearms. 
On the ground I was surprised to 
find at times plants they had acci- 
dentally chewed. At first I 
thought that only strong-flavored herbs were re- 
jected, but this is not the case. A well developed 
taste discriminates against everything but grass, 
Food 
Habits 
