l82 



The Living Animals of the World 



THE RHINOCEROS. 



BY F. f;. SELOUS. 









i-hoioin, ir. J'. /'..„,/„; |A'. -/.»/.■ /'.':/. 



IIAIRY-EAKKD SUJIATBAN EHINOC KK< i;>. 



This siiecies is found in Eastern Bengal and in the Malay Toninsula and 



adjacent large islands. 



Of the five existing species of Rhino- 

 ceros, three are found in Asia, whilst two 

 are inhabitants of Africa. 



(Jf the three Asiatic species, two, the 

 Indian and the Javan, are one-horned, and 

 have a single pair of broad incisor teeth in 

 the upper jaw, and a pair of sharp-edged and 

 pointed tusks in the lower, the nasal bones 

 being long and narrow, and terminating in 

 a point. In both these species the skin is 

 hairless (except for tufts or fringes at the 

 extremity of the tail and on the edges of 

 the ears), and is arranged in shield-like 

 folds over the body. The arrangement of 

 these folds, however, differs somewhat in 

 the two species, and the large round 

 tubercles with which the skin of the great 

 Indian rhinoceros is profusely studded are 

 wanting in the Javan species. 



Tlie Indian Rhinoceros inhabits the 



Terai at the foot of the Himalaya from 



Bhutan to Nepal, and is said to be very 



abundant in Assam and the Bhutan Dooars. 



It frequents swampy ground, and lives amongst jungles and dense growths of reeds and grass, 



which attain a height sometimes of 20 feet, and cover vast areas of ground in the valley of 



the Brahmaputra and other rivers. 



Owing to the nature of the country in which it lives, the Indian rhinoceros cannot often 

 be hunted with much prospect of success, except with the aid of elephants, which sagacious 

 animals are not only employed to carry the hunters, but- are also used to beat the great grass 

 jungles in which the rhinoceroses lie hidden, and drive them towards the guns. 



Despite its great size and strength, the Indian rhinoceros seems to be regarded as, in 

 general, a timid and inoffensive animal, and even when wounded it seldom charges home. 

 Elephants, however, appear to be as a rule nervous when in the near proximity of rhinoceroses, 

 perhaps objecting to the smell of those animals. When the Indian rhinoceros does make good 

 its charge against either man or elephant, it cuts and rips its enemy with its teeth, and 

 makes little use of its horn as an offensive weapon. 



The Indian rhinoceros is said to live principally, if not entirely, on grass and reeds. As 

 a rule it is a solitary animal, Ijut sometimes several are found living in a comparatively small 

 extent of grass-covered plain. 



Large males of this species will stand from 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet at the shoulder, and 

 they are enormously bulky. Both sexes carry well-developed horns, which, however, do not 

 usually attain a length of upwards of 12 inches. There is a specimen in the British Museum 

 measuring 19 inches, and it is believed that in very exceptional instances a length of 2 feet 

 has been attained. 



The Javan Rhinoceros, though it has been called the Lesser Indian Rhinoceros, is said 

 by a late authority — Mr. C. E. M. Russell — to stand about the same height at the shoulder as 

 the Indian species. It is found in the Sunderbunds of Eastern Bengal, and has been met with 

 in the Sikhim Terai and in Assam, ranging eastwards through Burma and the Malay Peninsula 

 to Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. 



