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Animal profile

Black Rhinoceros

Diceros bicornis

MammaliaSemi-arid savanna, thornbush, dry woodland and succulent scrubCritically Endangered

Field profile

The black rhinoceros is a solitary browser with a hooked, prehensile upper lip and two horns of compacted keratin. It collapsed by roughly 98 per cent between 1960 and the mid-1990s under poaching pressure, then recovered partially through intensive protection. It remains Critically Endangered, and the western subspecies was declared extinct in 2011.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2023-01-25

Black Rhinoceros

Rhino horn is hair-like keratin, not bone

A rhinoceros horn has no bony core and is not attached to the skull. It is a dense mass of keratin, the same structural protein as hair and fingernails, growing from the skin and capable of regrowing if cut cleanly.

Read with evidence →

Black Rhinoceros | Daily Animal Facts