Indian Rhinoceros

The Indian rhinoceros, or rhinoceros unicornus in Latin, is recognised for only having one horn, much like the fictional unicorn. These mammals have an enormous weight and armour like skin.

Rhinoceroses (rhinos) have very bad eye sight. However they make up for this by having an extremely good sense of smell. Their sense of smell is so good that during mating season they use it to seek out other rhinos.

Female rhinos become ready to mate at around 4-6 years old. Although male rhinoceroses become ready to mate much later, at around 9 years old. A rhinoceros pregnancy lasts 15-16 months before the female gives birth. She will have a second child in another 1-3 years. Males do not help with raising the young.

Rhinos usually spend their life on their own except for a mother and her young, who stay together until the child is old enough to look after themselves. Indian rhinos live in loosely defined territories marked with urine or faeces. Although they do meet at watering holes without fighting.

It’s not very often that Indian rhinos will fight as they usually don’t cross into others territory. They also would not dare to approach a female with her young, as they’re very protective and that trait is almost as legendary as their horns are.

Indian rhinoceroses are strict herbivores and their diet mainly consists of grass. Rhinos have lips that have adapted to eating grass allowing them to easily grip grass to pick it out of the ground for eating. Although they occasionally eat leaves, fruit and crops as well.

These rhinoceroses enjoy grazing in food plains. They do this and most other eating during the cooler parts of the day. When it gets hotter, to combat the heat, they like to swim in rivers and swamps and bathe in muddy pools. They do also eat the plants that grow at the bottom of these waters, sometimes.

Indian rhinos are actually very good swimmers. As well as enjoying cooling off in the water, it also