Natural History: Mammalia/Rhinocerotidæ
Family IV. Rhinocerotidæ.
(Rhinoceroses.)
The three living genera, Rhinoceros, Hyrax, and Tapir, which, with some extinct forms, constitute the present Family, have the feet wholly inclosed in the integuments, but tipped with hoofs three or four in number on each foot. They resemble each other in their jaws, all having seven molars on each side in each jaw, those of the upper having square crowns and various prominent lines, while the crowns of the lower assume the forms of double crescents, except in the hindmost of all, on which the crescent-crown is triple. The canines are either very small or wanting; and the number of incisors varies not only in the different genera, but even in the species of the same genus.
In size, appearance, and habits the genera differ so greatly from each other, that little could be predicated of them in common. Though the total number of species is very limited, they are yet widely scattered over South America, Africa, India and the great Oriental Islands.
Genus Rhinoceros. (Linn.)
The Rhinoceroses are animals of Africa and India, of great size, and massive proportions. There are but three toes on each foot, terminated
SKULL OF RHINOCEROS BICORNIS.
by rounded hoofs. The dental arrangement is as follows in the four Asiatic species,—inc.44; can.00; mol. 7—77—7; = 36; but the African species are destitute of incisors as well as canines. The skull is remarkable for the pointed elevation of the summit, and for the enlargement of the bones of the nose, which are of an unexampled size and thickness; they are united into a kind of arch, overhanging the front of the jaw, and intended to give support to a solid horn, which forms the most obvious characteristic of this genus, being seated on the nose. In all the African species, and in one of the Oriental, there is a second horn; but, totally unlike what prevails universally in other horned quadrupeds, they are not arranged transversely, but longitudinally ; the second, which is for the most part very inferior in length, being placed immediately behind its fellow. The horn, or horns, are as peculiar in their structure as in their position. They are not, as in the Ruminants, bony projections, parts of the skeleton, surrounded by skin or by a corneous case; but are solid appurtenances to the skin, composed of parallel fibres, of the nature of hairs, glued together, as it were, into a dense and compact mass. This fibrous texture is very manifest at the base, but at the tip it is less apparent, this part being always worn down by continual rubbing, and bearing a considerable polish.
The skin is excessively thick and coarse, and destitute of hair; and in the Asiatic species, falls in massive folds round the neck, behind and across the shoulders, and before and across the thighs; in these also, it is studded with rounded tubercles; both these peculiarities are wanting in the African species, which might indeed, on many accounts, constitute a separate genus. The Sumatran species (R. Sumatranus, Raff.) is intermediate in these and other respects. In disposition also, there is a well-marked difference between the animals of the two divisions: the African being characterized by a blind and malignant ferocity, while the Asiatic kinds are dully pacific and inoffensive.
INDIAN RHINOCEROS.
The species which has been the longest and the best known is the single-horned Rhinoceros of continental India, (R. Indicus, Cuv.) Both it, and some one of the African kinds, were repeatedly exhibited to the cruel Romans, in the bestial combats of the arena; but in modern times, Europe has seen no other than the Indian animal, of which, within the last two centuries, no fewer than a dozen individuals have been imported.
Both the peninsulas of India, from Bengal to Cochin China, but more especially that beyond the Ganges, are the native regions of this huge and uncouth quadruped. Like many others of this Order, he delights in the marshy borders of lakes and rivers, the damp and teeming forests, or the swampy jungles; immersing himself in the cool water and mud, or rolling and wallowing in the soft and oozy soil. "He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed and fens: the shady trees cover him with their shadow, the willows of the brook compass him about."[1] Some of our readers may have seen the individual, which for some years has been one of the treasures of the Zoological Gardens in the Regent’s Park, luxuriating in the bath with which his paddock is furnished, till his form is disguised beneath a thick coat of adhesive mud. When he can be seen, however, divested of such a covering, his skin. is found to be of a dull, deep purplish hue, marked with elevated round knobs, and other inequalities, and doubled into the thick folds already alluded to. There is no hair on the body, but on the tail and ears are a few stout and stiff horny bristles. Most visitors are disappointed at the appearance of the nasal horn in this specimen; it seems a coarse knob or lump, rather than a horn, the height being less than the diameter; but in fact, the animal has, ever since the first growth of the excrescence, constantly employed itself with untiring diligence in rubbing it down, so as to prevent its natural increase. In a state of nature, however, it is a formidable weapon. Pennant mentions a Mr. Pigot, an acquaintance of his own, "who had his belly ripped up by one, but survived the wound."
"Sluggish in his habitual movements, the Rhinoceros wanders through his native plains with a heavy step, carrying his huge head so low that his nose almost touches the ground, and stopping at intervals to crop some favourite plant, or, in playfulness, to plough up the ground with his horn, throwing the mud and stones behind him. The jungle yields before his weight and strength, and his track is said to be often marked by a line of devastation." In captivity it has generally been found to be peaceable, and tolerably tractable, but subject to fits of violence. The specimen seen by Dr. Parsons, in England, in 1739, often became unruly, and could be appeased only by food. When he was hungry, or irritated, he would spring forward, rear himself up, and push violently with his head against the walls. And the individual now in possession of the Zoological Society, is occasionally thrown into a state of excitement by the noise produced by the roller upon the gravel-walk, charging down towards it, and rearing himself up against the fence with great violence.
Bontius, who appears to have been familiar enough with this species in India, records the following instance of its fury when provoked. "A party on horseback had proceeded to a wood, when, in a marshy place, they came upon a Rhinoceros and her young one. The mother, on seeing them, arose and drove her young one towards the wood, and when it stopped in its play, pushed it forward with her snout. One of the company, out of a bravado, rode up, and drawing his Japanese sword, cut at the hinder parts of the old one, but the blows did not penetrate, on account of the hide, and some whitish marks only appeared. ‘The mother bore all patiently till her young one was safely hidden in the bushes and brushwood. Then the scene was changed. The irritated beast turned suddenly on her persecutor, whose life was saved by his frightened horse, which galloped back to the party, pursued by the furious Rhinoceros overturning trees and everything in her way.
"As soon as she saw the rest of the company, she attacked them; but they avoided her by getting behind two great trees, scarcely two feet apart, between which the Rhinoceros, in the blindness of her rage, rushed, making them tremble like reeds. While she was thus entangled, they used their fire-arms with fatal effect, and slew her. The rash man who attacked her by himself had a very narrow escape; for she turned short upon him with a horrible roar, and seized him by the boot, which, fortunately for him, was made of slight materials, and gave way. But for its yielding, actum de eo fuisset (says the worthy traveller), his affairs would have been soon settled.”
The natural food of the Rhinoceros consists of various kinds of herbage, and succulent plants, with the tender branches of trees; which he collects by means of his extensible upper lip. The specimen described by Dr. Parsons, was fed in captivity with seven pounds of rice daily, mixed with three pounds of sugar; with hay and green herbs added. That exhibited in 1790, which afforded the interesting memoir by Mr. Bingley, in his "Animal Biography," was allowed twenty-eight pounds of clover, about the same quantity of ship biscuit, and a great quantity of greens daily. Twice or thrice a day, five pails of water were given him. He was fond of sweet wine, and would drink three or four bottles in a few hours. We may presume this to have been on extraordinary occasions.
The Rhinoceros and the Elephant, in the Gardens, have lived on the best possible terms together, never having manifested any animosity towards each other. Major Lally, however, once witnessed from a distant hill in India a most desperate encounter between a large male Elephant and a Rhinoceros, in which the former was vanquished, and compelled to flee.
- ↑ Job xl. 21, 22.