An eastern black rhinoceros (<i>Diceros bicornis michaeli</i>), a subspecies of black rhinoceros, photographed at Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
An eastern black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli), a subspecies of black rhinoceros, photographed at Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Geographic Photo Ark

Black Rhinoceros

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.

Except for females and their offspring, black rhinos are solitary. Females reproduce only every two and a half to five years. Their single calf does not live on its own until it

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