Ugandan Wildlife: Rhinos at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary

Rhinoceros is short for Rhino or Rhinos for plural.  The rhino’s name derives from the Dutch ‘weit’ meaning wide a reference to its wide square muzzle adapted for grazing. The black rhino decline drastically in 1970s and 1980s due to poaching. That’s why many were trans-located to fenced sanctuaries in the early 1990s.

Fact Sheet

Common name: Rhinoceros

Scientific name: Diceros bicornis

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Order: Mammalia

Genus: Diceros

Species: Bicornis

Where to find the Rhinos

Black Rhinos have various habitats but mainly areas with dense, woody vegetation. While Rhinos live in Savannas with water holes, mud wallows and shade trees. These are mostly found in East Africa, South Africa and Central Africa but majority of them are in protected areas due to the threat of extinction.

You will easily find the Rhino at the Uganda Wildlife Education Center in Entebbe, and Zziwa Rhino Sanctuary.

What Rhinos eat

The black rhino is a browses, it eats a variety of vegetation including learners, buds and shoots of plants, bushes and trees. The white rhino on the other hand in a grazes feeding on grasses.

How to identify a Rhino

The rhinoceros is a large, primitive-looking mammal that dates from the mocena era millions of years ago. The white or squire-hired rhino is one of 2 rhino types in Africa. The white rhino is actually gray, has a pronounced hump on the neck and a long face. The black or hooked lipped rhino is an odd-toed ungulate. It has thick, harmless, gray hide. Both black and white rhino have two horns, the longer of which sits at the front of the nose.

Behavior

They live in home ranges that sometimes overlap with each other. Feeding ground, water holes and wallows may be shared. Black rhino is usually solitary white rhino tends to be more gregarious. Rhinos are ill-tempered and low poor eyesight which is why they will sometimes charge without apparent reason. Their sense of smelling and hearing is very good… an extend vocabulary of growls grunts, squeaks, shorts and bellows.