PLATE XVI. 
RHINOCEROS AFRICANUS.—THE AFRICAN RHINOCEROS. 
Rhinoster of the Cape Colonists. Borili of the Bechuana. Chukuroo of the Matabili. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. — Often six feet high at the shoulder, and about thirteen in extreme length. General contour 
that of gigantic swine. Body very robust, clumsy, and underlimbed; feet very small in proportion, and furnished with three 
toes; the hocks unnaturally prominent, as though spavined. Head shapeless. Eyes lateral and extremely small; encircled by 
a series of deeply furrowed wrinkles, extending over-a great portion of the face. Muzzle hooked, and resembling that of a 
tortoise ;. armed with two horns on the snout, placed one behind the other, over an arch formed by the nasal bones ;_ they 
are solid, fibrous, consisting of an agglutination of hair, and attached to the skin only; variously fashioned; usually rough at 
the base, and highly polished above; the anterior from one to two feet long, the posterior generally much smaller, but capri- 
cious, attaining in some specimens the same or nearly the samelength.* Ears pointed, small, approximated, and fringed with a 
few bristles. Hide naked, very thick, rugous, and knotty, but destitute of plaits or ate a few loose wrinkles about the neck 
excepted. Usual colour olive brown, approaching sometimes to that of clay mire. Tail about two feet long, laterally com- 
pressed at the end, and furnished with a few terminal bristles. 
Female similar, but smaller. Mamme two. Very common in the interior, and frequently gregarious in small groups 
not exceeding five or six. Inhabits variously, but is most usually met with on thinly wooded plains. 
* In no two specimens of this animal which came under my observation were the horns built exactly upon the same model. Disease or accident had not 
unfrequently rendered the anterior horn the shorter of the two. 
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