232 WILD BEASTS OF THE WORLD 



species now living, ranging all over Africa from Abyssinia to the Cape. 

 It is about as big as the great Indian Rhinoceros, and, like it, has a 

 pointed prehensile upper-lip, but a smooth skin without creases ; it is 

 also provided with two horns, the front one, on the nose, sometimes 

 exceeding a yard in length, while that over the eyes is seldom much 

 more than half the length of its fellow; but the proportions vary 

 greatly. 



This Rhinoceros is for the most part a bush-haunter, and lives 

 almost entirely by browsing, eating twigs, leaves, and fruit. Opinions 

 differ as to its character, but the general opinion is that it is an 

 irritable, vicious animal, being unusually inclined to attack men un- 

 provoked, and thus very different in disposition from most of the 

 family. Indeed, some years ago, the expedition of Mr. A. Chanler and 

 Lieutenant von Hohnel into East Africa was broken up through 

 the repeated attacks of these animals, who ultimately disabled the 

 latter gentleman. Although so common in the wild state, this animal 

 is rarely captured, and only two have been exhibited in the London 

 Zoological Gardens. 



THE GREAT AFRICAN RHINOCEROS 



{Rhinoceros simus) 



The Square-mouthed Rhinoceros of South Africa, so called from its 

 upper lip not terminating in a prehensile point, is also sometimes 

 called "White" — a term as absurd as "Black" for the other, and for 

 the same reason, the animal being also grey. It is the largest land 

 animal after the Elephants, a big male standing six and a half feet 

 at the shoulder, and being about twelve feet long. Like the common 

 kind, it is smooth-skinned, and has two horns, which vary much in 

 length, the front one sometimes exceeding four feet in length. The 

 Square-mouthed Rhinoceros lives in the open, and is a grass-feeder, 

 and generally harmless in disposition. It has never been brought to 

 Europe alive, and is now, by the persecution of hunters, reduced 

 to about a dozen individuals — if even these still exist — in South 

 Africa, though now also found to inhabit Central Equatorial Africa. 



