Five Species Of Rhinoceros - All Endangered
Africa, India, and Indonesia
There are five species of rhinoceros, of which two are found in Africa; one in India, and two in Indonesia. The biggest of them - the Indian rhino - can grow up to six feet six inches (2 metres) tall and can weigh over one ton.
Moving down the scale, the next in size are the Black rhino and the White rhino - both from Africa.
And then come the smallest of the five species of rhinos - the Javan and the Sumatran rhinos.
All of the species of rhino eat grass and woody stems and it's amazing to think that an animal can grow so big from eating grass.
The White rhino isn't actually white. It has a wide mouth for eating grass, whereas the Black rhino has a more pointed mouth for nibbling branches. Some authorities think that the White rhino is a corruption of the word 'wide', and that that is how the animal got its name.
Prized For Their Horns
The Africa rhinos and the Sumatran rhino have two horns. The Indian and the Javan rhino have just one horn. But whether it is two horns or one, they are all made of keratin, a protein which is the same material from which fingernails and hair are made.
And it their horns that make them attractive to poachers. The powdered horn is used in traditional asian medicine for controlling fever and is the preferred material for dagger handles in countries like Yemen in the Horn of Africa.
And despite having skin that is two inches (5cm) thick in places, rhinos are easy targets for poachers.
That is why in some animal reserves, the wardens cut off the horns of the rhinos to make them less attractive to poachers.
The sad fact is though, that outside of the reserves rhinos have more or less disappeared from the Earth.