Classroom lesson 路 Wildlife馃嚳馃嚘 South Africa

White rhinoceros

The second-largest land animal on Earth - after the elephant

A white rhinoceros grazing on the ground in southern Africa

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The white rhinoceros is the second-largest animal that walks on land. Only the African elephant is bigger. South Africa is home to most of the world's white rhinos, who live in protected national parks and reserves where rangers look after them carefully.

Tell me more

An adult white rhino can weigh over 2,000 kilograms - as much as a small car. Despite their size, they can run surprisingly fast for short distances, up to about 50 km/h. Their feet make a heavy thudding sound that you can hear before you see them.

White rhinos aren't actually white - they are grey, just like other rhinos. The name probably came from an old Afrikaans word for 'wide' (wyd), which described their wide, square mouth. English speakers heard it as 'white', and the name stuck. Their wide mouth is perfect for cropping short grass, like a giant lawnmower.

Each rhino has two horns made of the same stuff as your fingernails - keratin. The front horn is longer than the back one and can grow over a metre long. The horns keep growing throughout a rhino's life, like your nails do.

South Africa has done amazing work to protect rhinos. About 100 years ago, white rhinos were so rare that there were only a few dozen left in the world. Thanks to careful protection by rangers and scientists, the population is now in the thousands. Rhinos are still protected with great care today.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01How can something with the name 'white' actually be grey? What other names do we use that aren't quite right when you look closely?
  2. 02Why might it have been important to protect rhinos when there were only a few dozen left?
  3. 03Rangers spend their days looking after wild animals. What other jobs can you think of where humans help animals?
Try this

Classroom activity

Look up the weight of a small car (about 1,500 kg) and a white rhino (about 2,000 kg). On a sheet of paper, draw the two side by side to scale. Then add yourself in the same picture, also to scale. How many of you would equal one rhino?

More about South Africa

Other things that make South Africa special

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