Water is indispensable to the rhinoceros, and, even if his usual haunts be distant from the fountain, he seeks it at least once in the course of the twenty-four hours, as well to quench his thirst as to wallow in the mud, with which his body is frequently incrusted, leaving to the thirsty traveler nothing but a mass of well-kneaded dough.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Lake_Ngami-p376.png/459px-Lake_Ngami-p376.png)
FŒTUS OF RHINOCEROS KEITLOA.
Little seems to be known of the breeding habits of this animal: whether it lives in monogamy, or has a plurality of wives, and so forth. It appears certain, however, that the female only produces one young at a birth, and that, too, at considerable intervals. During the first month, the young rhinoceros exceeds not the size of a large dog, with the merest indication of horns. A complete and full-grown fœtus of R. Keitloa that I once obtained measured thus:
Ft. | In. | |
---|---|---|
Length of body (from tip of nose, over the head, and along the back) to insertion of tail | 3 | 6 |
Length of tail | 0 | 10 |
Circumference of body behind shoulder | 2 | 4 |
Circumference of" neck | 1 | 6 |
Circumference of" head (across the eyes) | 1 | 8 |
Height at the shoulder | 2 | 1 |
Length of head between ears and eyes | 0 | 412 |
Breadth of head"between"ears" | 0 | 4 |
Breadth"of head"between" eyes (corner nearest nostrils) | 0 | 7 |