I love animals - Information, a story and questions for small kids - The Rhinoceros

For short we just call them Rhinos.  They are huge land mammals with a horn on their nose.  Unfortunately it is that horn that is the reason why they are almost extinct.  

Lets learn more about rhinos.

The word 'rhinoceros' actually means 'nose horn', so it it a perfect name for this animal.

There are five different species of rhinoceros, three native to southern Asia and two native to Africa. They are the Black Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros, Indian Rhinoceros, Javan Rhinoceros and Sumatran Rhinoceros. 

• See if you can find pictures of each of these different types of Rhinos.
• There is also a difference between the black and white rhinos.  Have a look at the video.

• Can you name a few differences between these rhinos?  If you cannot remember, watch the video again.

All of these different species of rhino can weight more that one ton and the white rhino can weigh more than 3.5 ton so this is an animal that can do damage if they put their weight to it.

The elephant is the largest land mammal and after that comes the white rhino.

Very sad is that 3 of the 5 species are seen as 'critically endangered'.  That means that if we do not look after them, they will become extinct and we will have none left.  Unfortunately there are people who just care about money and they poach the rhinos for their horns.  They kill the animal in the process.  This is a huge problem all over the world, but especially her in Africa.

Read more here about these beautiful animals.

Rhinos have huge bodies, but not a very big brain.  Their eyesight is also not good, but they have a good sense of smell.  The horn is made of 'keratin'.  This is the same substance that our nails and hair are made of.

Rhinos are herbivores and eat a large amount of grass and leaves per day.

Mostly rhinos will live alone, but some like the white rhino (which is actually grey in colour) will live together in a group called a 'herd' or 'crash'.

If it is very hot in the day, the rhino will be in the shade or will cover it whole body with mud that will act like a 'sunscreen.'

• For fun watch the story or you can read it by yourself.
• Once you are done, re-tell the story in the correct order to somebody.

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