Rhinoceros.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



91 



the colony, is still extensively spread throughout 

 the southern regions of Aliica. When the Dutch 

 first formed their settlement on the shores of Table 

 Bay, this rhinoceros was a regular inhabitant of the 

 thickets which clothed the lower slopes of the 

 mountain ; but it has retired, and continues to retire, 

 be lore the advance of colonization and the gun of 

 the hunter. This species differs from the Indian, 

 not only in the possession of a double horn, but in 

 the absence of massive folds of skin, and in wanting 

 the incisor teeth. The skin is thick, coarse, sca- 

 brous, and forms a deep furrow round the short thick 

 neck; the head is heavy; the eyes are small, and 

 the skin round them, and on the muzzle, and before 

 the ears, is wrinkled ; the upper lip is slightly pro- 

 duced, and prehensile. The anterior horn is Ions:, 

 fibrous at the base, hard, and finely polinhed at the 

 point ; the posterior horn is short and conical. Ge- 

 neral colour yellowish brown, with tints of purple 

 upon the sides of the head and muzzle ; eyes dark 

 brown. Length about eleven feet. A few black 

 hairs fringe the edge of the ears and the tip of the 

 tail. This animal feeds upon brushwood, and the 

 smaller branches of dwarf trees, l< from which cir- 

 cumstance," says Dr. Smith, "it is invariably found 

 frequenting wooded districts, and in those situations 

 its course may be often traced by the mutilations 

 of the bushes. The mass of vegetable matter con- 

 sumed does not appear to be in proportion to the 

 bulk of the animal : indeed, as it feeds but slowly, 

 and passes much of its time in idleness, it must be 

 regarded as a very moderate eater, and, considering 

 that it appears to be fastidious in the choice of its 

 food, it is fortunate for its comfort that it does not 

 require more nourishment." Of the senses of the 

 rhinoceros, those of hearing and smell are very acute, 

 and aid the animal more than his sight in the dis- 

 covery of danger, the bulk of the body screening 

 objects not immediately before the eyes. " As these 

 animals depend much upon smell for their existence 

 and safety, it is necessary to advance upon them 

 from the "leeward side, it the aim be to get close 

 without being discovered. In pursuit they also 

 trust for guidance to the same sense, and may be 

 heard forcibly inspiring the air, when they have lost 

 the scent of the object they are following. The 

 ticks and other insects with which they are covered 

 furnish for them another source of intelligence, in- 

 asmuch as they attract a number of birds, which sit 

 quietly picking them off, when nothing strange is 

 in sight, but fly away when any object excites their 

 fear. So well does the rhinoceros understand this, 

 that he proceeds feeding with the greatest con- 

 fidence while the birds continue perched upon his 

 back ; but the moment they fly, the huge animal 

 raises his head and turns it in all directions to catch 

 the scent. Whether he accomplishes this or not, he 

 generally feels so uncertain of his position, that he 

 moves to some other locality." The same observa- 

 tions apply to the other African species. When 

 disturbed or attacked, the rhinoceros becomes fu- 

 rious, and especially when wounded : he then rushes 

 towards his foe, and if he can get the hunter once 

 within his sight, the escape of the latter, unless he 

 exert great presence of mind, or the well-directed 

 shot of a companion stop the animal in his career, 

 is very doubtful. The best plan is to wait till the 

 enraged beast approaches, and then step aside sud- 

 denly, where some bush or inequality of the ground 

 may afford a shelter, and give time to the hunter 

 for reloading his gun before the rhinoceios gets 

 sight of him again, which fortunately it does slowly 

 and with difficulty. Travellers in the regions fre- 

 quented by this animal are not safe during the night 

 from its attacks. It appears to be excited by the 

 glow of a fire, towards which it rushes with fury, 

 overturning every obstacle. It has, indeed, been 

 known to rush with such rapidity upon a military 

 party lodged among the bush covering the banks 

 of the Great Fish River, that before the men could 

 be aroused it had severely injured two of them, 

 tossed about and broken several guns, and com- 

 pletely scattered the burning wood. Le \ r aillant, 

 in an animated account of a rhinoceros hunt, de- 

 scribes the enraged and wounded animals as plough- 

 ing up the ground with 1heir horns, and throwing a 

 shower of pebbles and stones around them : and 

 Dr. Smith says that they are sometimes seen to 

 plough up the earth for several paces with the front, 

 horn when not enraged, but for what object he could 

 not discover. The native (Bechuana) name of this 

 species is Borili. 



379, 386.— The Keitloa 



(Rh. Keitloa, Smith). In general figure this savage 

 species resembles most nearly the common African 

 rhinoceros. There are, however, he observes, many 

 marked differences between them, of which the fol- 

 lowing are a few of the external and more palpable. 

 In Rhinoceros Keitloa the two horns are of equal 

 or nearly equal length ; in Rhinoceros Africanus 

 the posterior in neither sex is ever much beyond a 

 third of the length of the anterior horn ; the length 



of the head in proportion to the depth is very dif- 

 ferent in the two. The neck of Rhinoceros Keitloa 

 is much longer than that of the other, and the posi- 

 tion and character of the cuticular furrows destined 

 to facilitate the lateral motions of the head are very 

 different. Besides these, Dr. Smith states that many 

 other diagnostic characters might be instanced ; 

 such as the black mark on the inside of the Ihigh 

 of the Keitloa, the distinctly produced tip of the 

 upper lip, and the comparatively few wrinkles on 

 the snout and parts around the eyes. 



The first example of this animal which Dr. Smith 

 met with, during his expedition, was shot about 

 180 miles N.E. of Lattakoo, but considerably south 

 of the country to which the species appears directly 

 to belong, and from which it might be considered 

 as a wanderer. On the expedition penetrating to the 

 northward of Kunichane, every one was found con- 

 versant with the name and able to direct to situa 

 tions where the animal was found. Few mentioned 

 the Keitloa without alluding to its vindictive tem- 

 per and ferocity ; and those, says Dr. Smith, who 

 had sufficient confidence in the party, compared to 

 it a chief, then awfully oppressing that part of the 

 country, and spoke of the man and the animal as 

 alike to be feared. As the party advanced, the 

 Keitloa became more common, though it never 

 occurred in such numbers as the other two species. 



" The interest," says Dr. Smith, " which the dis- 

 covery of this species excited, led to the making ol 

 minute inquiries as to the. animals of this genus; 

 and the expedition had sufficient reason to believe, 

 from the replies to constant questions, that two 

 other undescribed species existed farther in the in- 

 terior, one of which was described as being some- 

 thing like the Keitloa, and having two horns — the 

 other as differing in many respects, and having only 

 one horn. The Keitloa browses on shrubs and the 

 slender branches of brushwood, using the upper lip 

 as an organ of prehension." 



388, 389. — The White or Beunt-nosed 

 Rhinockeos 



(Rh. simvs), termed Mohoohoo by the Bechuanas, 

 is larger than the two former species, being upwards 

 of twelve feet in length, and nearly six feet in 

 height. It is a huge, massive animal, with the neck 

 longer than in the other African species, having 

 three deep wrinkles running from Ihe nape down 

 the sides ; the muzzle is truncate, the mouth 

 shaped like that of an ox, the upper lip perfectly 

 square, and destitute of the mobility and power of 

 protrusion, which it exhibits in the other species. 

 Hence, instead of browsing upon shrubs, it feeds 

 principally upon grass, and therefore frequents open 

 plains where such herbage abounds, wandering very 

 extensively in search of pasturage. This animal 

 was first described by Mr. Burchell, who when at 

 Lattakoo found it in abundance there, and Mr. 

 Campbell brought the head of one to England. In 

 the Mohoohoo the horns are situated close to the 

 extremity of the nose: the first is very long, tapered 

 to a point, and slightly curved back ; the second is 

 short, conical, and obtuse. The general colour is 

 pale broccoli-brown ; the buttocks, shoulders, and 

 under parts shaded with brownish purple ; tail 

 clothed with stiff' black hair. According to Dr. 

 Smith, the introduction of fire-arms among the 

 Bechuanas has rendered this animal rare in the dis- 

 trict where Mr. Burchell found it numerous : higher 

 up the country, however, it still maintains its ground. 

 In disposition it differs from the other two species, 

 being much more gentle, and is therefore regarded 

 with less fear than either the Keitloa or the Borili. 



The flesh of all three species is esteemed whole- 

 some food by the natives, who dig pit-falls for them 

 in situations to which they are known to resort; and 

 sometimes, though rarely with success, attempt to 

 kill them with the assagai or spear. In style of 

 motion they are all alike, and so awkward that their 

 ■ swiftness is to be appreciated not by directly watch- 

 ing the animal itself, but by fixing the eye upon 

 some two points between which it takes its course. 

 To revert to the one-horned rhinoceros, of which 

 Dr. Smith heard in the interior of South Africa, 

 and of which Bruce and Burckhardt received ac- 

 counts as existing in A del and the country south 

 of Sennaar, it may be added that Dr. Smith adduces 

 the testimony of Mr. Freeman respecting an animal 

 by no means rare in Makooa, north of the Mosam- 

 bique Channel, which, overlooking the absurdities 

 and exaggeration of the description, he suspects to 

 be a one-horned rhinoceros, and probably that of 

 which he heard, and which may extend to the 

 countries mentioned by Bruce and Burckhardt. 



Among the fossil relics of animals which at some 

 former period have tenanted this globe, and after 

 a quiet possession, generation succeeding generation, 

 of their pasture-lands, have become as it were 

 blotted out of the book of creation, those of the 

 rhinoceros are extremely abundant, little less so, if 

 at all, than those of the fossil elephant or mammoth, 

 as widely distributed, and occurring in the same 



strata and the same localities. Several species 

 have been distinctly made out, among which the 

 most remarkable is that with a bony partition be- 

 tween the nostrils, and supporting the nasal bones : 

 it is termed by Cuvier Rh. tichorhinus. Fig. 390 re- 

 presents the skull in two views : a, profile ; b, seen 

 from below. 



It was of this species that Pallas in 1771 disco • 

 vereel an entire frozen carcass buried in the sand on 

 the banks of the Wilouji or "Viloui, which joins the 

 Lena, in Siberia. Happily, therefore, we know the 

 form and true proportions of the living animal. 

 The skin was smooth and destitute of folds, and, like 

 the common African rhinoceros, the animal had two 

 horns. The feet had three toes, as in all extant 

 species, but the hoofs were lost. Like the mam- 

 moth of Siberia, this animal was originally covered 

 with hair: in many parts of the skin this hair still 

 remained, especially over the feet, where it was very 

 abundant, measuring from one to three inches in 

 length, of a stiff quality, and of a dusky grey. The 

 head was invested with a similar clothing. The 

 head and feet are preserved in their natural state in 

 the museum of St. Petersburg. 



The skull of this species differs from that of the 

 two-horned African rhinoceros, not only in the 

 presence of the osseous nasal partition, but in gene- 

 ral form and proportions. The length and narrow- 

 ness of the skull are very remarkable, as is also the 

 space between the orbits, which is much more con- 

 tracted than in the common two-horned species, and 

 the nasal bones are far more elongated. In the 

 two-horned rhinoceros the disc which bears the an- 

 terior horn is a semi-sphere, in this an oblong ellipse, 

 and a disc of similar figure supports the second 

 horn, whence it may be safely concluded that the 

 horns of this fossil species were strongly compressed 

 at the sides. The occipital ridge is elevated and 

 drawn out backwards, so that from the highest point 

 the occipital hone slopes at a very acute angle in- 

 wards to the condyles. 



About nine fossil species of rhinoceros are de- 

 scribed. Almost every bone-cavern in England, 

 France, and Germany has afforded them in abund- 

 ance ; and Dr. Buckland proves that there must 

 have been a long succession of years in which the 

 elephant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros, with the 

 hyaena, inhabited our island ; and that the former, 

 as the bones testify, became the prey of the latter, 

 or were devoured after natural or accidental death. 



391, 392, 393.— The Damas, or Hyrax. 



When we look at the rabbit-like hyrax, it does 

 not surprise us to find that all the older naturalists 

 regarded it as a Rodent, and placed it in that order. 

 It was reserved for Cuvier to point out its true situa- 

 tion. " There is no quadruped," says this great 

 man, "which proves more forcibly than the daman 

 the necessity of having recourse to anatomy, as a 

 test by which to determine the true relationship of 

 animals." This fur-covered active creature is a true 

 Pachydermatous animal, and, notwithstanding the 

 smallness of its size, it is to be regarded as " inter- 

 mediate between the rhinoceros and tapir." The 

 resemblance which the hyrax bears to the former 

 may be traced in its osseous system and internal 

 anatomy (see 'Proceeds. Zool. Soc' 1832 and 

 1835). On these points it would here be out of 

 place to dwell ; we have, however, figured the 

 skeleton (Fig. 394) and the skull (Fig. 395), which 

 to many will be of interest. With respect to the 

 latter, the singular depth of the lower jaw cannot 

 but strike every attentive observer; and it may be 

 added that in the convexity of the posterior edge 

 of the ascending portion it surpasses that even of 

 the tapir, which, in this respect, is the nearest among 

 all animals to the hyrax. In other particulars the 

 skull approaches that of the rhinoceros; the molar 

 teeth, in fact, are those of the rhinoceros in minia- 

 ture, both as to form and number. There are, as 

 in the rhinoceros, no canines. The upper incisors, 

 two in number, are long, triangular, pointed, stout, 

 and separated from each other by a small interval. 

 The lower incisors are four in number, set in close 

 array, flat, and directed forwards. At first their 

 edges are notched, but they become smooth by use. 

 The molars are seven on each side, above and he- 

 low : but the first, which is small, falls out, being 

 worn down as soon as the last molar on each side 

 has arisen ; and, in old individuals, the next, is fre- 

 quently wanting also. 



With respect to the skeleton, it may be remarked 

 that there are 21 ribs on each side, a number 

 greater than in any other quadruped, except the 

 two-toed sloth, which has 23. The elephant and 

 tapir follow the hyrax. The fore-feet are divided 

 into four toes, tipped with hoof-like nails ; the hind- 

 feet into three, of which the innermost is furnished 

 with a long claw-like nail. The toes are all buried 

 in the skin, as far as the little hoots, precisely as in 

 the rhinoceros. 



Several species belong to the present genus : we 

 have figured the Cape Hyrax or Daman (Fig. 391), 



N2 



