Hook-lipped Rhinoceros or black rhinoceros

The black rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis is basically grey, but the colour varies from yellow-brown to dark-brown according to local soil conditions. It has two horns, and occasionally a third small posterior horn. The anterior horn is longer than the posterior, averaging 50cm long.

Distinguishable from the white rhino mainly by the prehensile upper lip, (hence the alternative name of hook-lipped rhino), it is not always darker in colour.

The Black rhino is found mostly in the transitional zone between grassland and forest, generally in thick thorn bush or acacia scrub but also in more open country. It is not primarily a grassland animal but it favours the edges of thickets and extensive areas of short woody growth. Black rhinos exist wherever enough herbs and woody browse occurs in such sufficient amounts to support it.

The Black Rhinoceros is a herbivorous browser that eats leafy plants, branches, shoots, thorny wood bushes, and fruit.

The adults are solitary in nature, coming together only for mating. Sexual maturity is reached from 5 to 7 years old for females, and 7 to 8 years for males. The gestation period is 15 to 16 months. The single calf weighs about 35–50 kilograms.

Earlier in the 20th century hunting to clear land for agriculture and human settlement was the main cause for the decline of African rhinos. However, the single most important cause for the catastrophic decline of rhinos in the last quarter of the 20th century was the demand for their horn in the Middle Eastern and Eastern Asian markets.
Hook-lipped Rhinoceros or black rhinoceros