White Rhinos Painting by Maciek Froncisz

White Rhinos

by Maciek Froncisz

Canvas Print

$78

Framed Print

$96

Art Print

$27

Poster

$27

Metal Print

$84

Acrylic Print

$92

Wood Print

$64

Throw Pillow

$25

Duvet Cover

$100

Shower Curtain

$71

Tote Bag

$26

Greeting Card

$7.95

iPhone Case

$28

Men's Clothing

$26

Women's Clothing

$26

Youth Clothing

$22

Toddler Clothing

$20

Baby Clothing

$24

Title

White Rhinos

Artist

Maciek Froncisz

Medium

Painting - Painting

Description

White Rhinos

The white rhinoceros or square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhinoceros, with an estimated 20,405 wild-living animals in 2013, and the much rarer northern white rhinoceros. The northern subspecies has very few remaining, with only four confirmed individuals left (three females and one male), all in captivity.

Both black and white rhinoceroses are actually gray. They are different not in color but in lip shape. The black rhino has a pointed upper lip, while its white relative has a squared lip. The difference in lip shape is related to the animals' diets. Black rhinos are browsers that get most of their sustenance from eating trees and bushes. They use their lips to pluck leaves and fruit from the branches. White rhinos graze on grasses, walking with their enormous heads and squared lips lowered to the ground.

White rhinos live on Africa's grassy plains, where they sometimes gather in groups of as many as a dozen individuals. Females reproduce only every two and a half to five years. Their single calf does not live on its own until it is about three years old.

Under the hot African sun, white rhinos take cover by lying in the shade. Rhinos are also wallowers. They find a suitable water hole and roll in its mud, coating their skin with a natural bug repellent and sunblock.

Rhinos have sharp hearing and a keen sense of smell. They may find one another by following the trail of scent each enormous animal leaves behind it on the landscape.

White rhinos have two horns, the foremost more prominent than the other. Rhino horns grow as much as three inches (eight centimeters) a year, and have been known to grow up to five feet (1.5 meters) long. Females use their horns to protect their young, while males use them to battle attackers.

The prominent horn for which rhinos are so well known has been their downfall. Many animals have been killed for this hard, hair-like growth, which is revered for medicinal use in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The horn is also valued in North Africa and the Middle East as an ornamental dagger handle.

The white rhino once roamed much of sub-Saharan Africa, but today is on the verge of extinction due to poaching fueled by these commercial uses. Only about 11,000 white rhinos survive in the wild, and many organizations are working to protect this much loved animal.