The Biggest Odd-Toed Ungulate

The white rhino -- though actually gray colored -- lives in groups on southern Africa’s grassy plains. Weighing up to 7,920 pounds, white rhinos walk as they graze on grasses, with their heads down so as to get all the food they can. When they get tired, white rhinos are known to rest in the shade, or wallow in mud to repel insects and sun damage. These mud baths don’t seem to offend their keen senses of hearing and smell. White rhinos have two horns, which have been known to grow up to 5 feet long. Because of this horn, these rhinos have been poached almost to extinction. Rhino horn and skin are believed to be medicine in southern Asia, and white rhino horn is a popular material to make daggers out of in the Middle East. Marked as Endangered, there are only around 11,000 white rhinos today, although they used to dominate much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Mammal / Odd-toed Ungulates

By Jordanna Dulaney

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