EHINOCEROS. 
THE CHAEACTER GENERALLY OF RHINOCEROSES. 
When very young and small the rhinoceros is not 
usually bad tempered, in fact many are playful, and if a 
large ball or small cask were allowed it in its paddock 
the animal would roll and tumble it about for hours, 
pushing it with that part of the head where the horn 
would eventually be formed. Long before the beast 
becomes adult it is dangerous to enter the den or paddock 
when the animal is at liberty. It may be simply an act 
of playfulness on its part, but it would rush suddenly 
upon you and on account of its great weight and strength 
there would be much danger of being crushed. 
Some of the species, such as R. lasiotis and R. sumatrensis, 
being of smaller size and less irritable, are by no means 
so dangerous as the one-horned R. unicornis of India, and 
the two-horned R. bicornis of Africa. The two latter are 
never to be depended upon. 
The savage manner in which the Indian species will 
attack the bars of its den or walls of its prison, beating 
itself furiously against any structure and^ in more than 
one instance, tearing off the horn and leaving the skull 
bare, is well known. 
A large Indian rhinoceros living in the Gardens, while 
attempting some few years ago to tear down the iron fence, 
tore the horn bodily from its position on the head. 
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