n8 THE MAMMALS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



here. So far back as the year 1688 the teeth of an animal, then supposed to be a 

 marine monster, were discovered in the superficial deposits of Chartham, near 

 Canterbury ; and subsequently these and other similar remains were ascertained 

 to have belonged to an extinct species of rhinoceros, for which the name 

 JR. antiquitatis was proposed in 1803. From the discovery of entire carcases 

 embedded in the frozen soil of Siberia, it was further ascertained that this woolly 

 rhinoceros, as it came to be called, was furnished with a coat of thick hair in 

 order to protect it from the intense cold of the period in which it flourished. And 

 it was eventually found that the range of this species included the greater part of 

 Europe and northern Asia. Later on this extinct European and Asiatic species 

 was found to be closely allied to the living white rhinoceros of South and Central 

 Africa. 



The latter is easily recognised by its very wide and blunt nose, from the 

 extreme edge of which grows the long front horn, which has a broad squared base 

 and a flattened front surface. In females the front horn, which is larger and 

 more slender than in the bulls, may curve forwards in such a manner that its tip 

 touches the ground when the animal is feeding, and is consequently worn into an 

 oblique facet. 



In height, old bulls of the white rhinoceros are stated to measure over 6 feet 

 in height at the shoulder, and, exclusive of the tail, to exceed 13 feet in length. 



In the Lado Enclave, on account, apparently, of their poor eyesight and 

 generally sluggish disposition, white rhinoceroses can easily be approached to 

 within a distance of 20 feet, and may then be watched for as long as desired. 

 Every night they go either to the Nile or to a pool to drink, and after quenching 

 their thirst travel back to the dry country, stopping from time to time to graze 

 as opportunity occurs. About 9 a.m. they lie down to rest, usually in the scanty 

 shade of a thorn-tree, where they remain till well on in the afternoon, when they 

 resume grazing, and continue feeding until sundown. As a rule, the males are 

 found alone, and the females accompanied only by their calves; but occasionally 

 three or four may be seen in company. Their tracks are easy to follow; and 

 when the animals are overtaken they appear less excitable and less bad-tempered 

 than the black species, although they will occasionally charge. All this agrees 

 with the accounts given of the habits of the southern race of the species in former 

 days ; and it especially emphasises — now that Lado has come under British rule — 

 the need of protecting these animals from undue slaughter. 



There has long been a belief that the horns of rhinoceroses are movable; 

 James Greenwood, for example, wrote in 1862 as follows : — 



" Concerning the horns of the rhinoceros, there exist many curious superstitions, 

 one being that when the animal is undisturbed by man and at peace with his 

 fellows, its foremost horn is plastic as the trunk of the elephant, and put to the 

 same purposes ; but that when enraged the accommodating implement stiffens 

 to a weapon of war, and relaxes not till the ire of the terrible beast cools. This 

 doctrine, however, may be not without foundation, for, as has already been stated, 

 the horn is merely seated on the top of the nose, having for its base a peculiar 

 knob of bone. . . . The root of the horn may be planted in a bed of muscle, 

 which, when the animal is at rest, may so far relax as to admit of the weapon 



