THE INDIAN RHINOCEROS 



(Rhinoceros indicus) 



Owing to its inhabiting a country of ancient civilisation like India, 

 the great Indian Rhinoceros has always been the most familiar of the 

 small family of large hoofed animals of which it is a member ; while, 

 though not absolutely the largest, it can challenge comparison with 

 any of them in peculiarity of aspect, owing to the curious armour- 

 plate-like arrangement of its heavy and folded hide, which is studded 

 with tubercles simulating the rivets of real armour. 



The horn on the nose is solid throughout, and composed of a mass 

 of horny fibres like agglutinated hair ; it is merely seated on the skull, 

 having no bony core, and a captive individual in the London Zoological 

 Gardens once accidentally wrenched his off, to his exceeding pain and 

 dismay. The hoofs are three in number on each foot, but the animal 

 is not supported entirely on them, like a Horse or Cow, but treads also 

 on a pad covering the bases of the toes. The skin is naked and very 

 thick, but in the fresh state is not impenetrable to bullets as used to 

 be supposed. 



The mouth is provided with a good set of flat-crowned grinders, 

 but the front teeth are very scantily represented, there being no 

 canines in the upper jaw and usually only one pair of incisors, while 

 the lower jaw has only a pair of small incisors and an outer pair of 

 rather large sharp-edged teeth, which some regard as canines and some 

 as incisors. Whatever they are, the animal knows how to make use 

 of them, ripping an adversary with them as a Boar does with his 

 canine tusks. 



This Rhinoceros is one of the largest living land animals, measuring 

 from five to nearly six feet at the shoulder, and exceeding at times ten 

 feet from nose to root of tail ; the said appendage is puny and rather 

 short, not reaching a yard. The horn in this species is not very long, 

 seldom reaching more than a foot ; it is found in both sexes, as in 

 most Rhinoceroses. When newly born, the Rhinoceros is about as 



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