white rhinoceros

white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), also called square-lipped rhinocerosWhite rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum).© Digital Vision/Getty Imagesthe largest rhinoceros species and one of two African species of rhinoceros. Historically, the species has been divided into two subspecies, the northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) and the southern white rhinoceros (C. simum simum); however, comparative anatomy and DNA analysis suggest that the two groups are, in fact, different species.


White rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum).© Digital Vision/Getty ImagesThe range of the white rhinoceros is not contiguous. South of the Zambezi River it was once extremely common over a fairly large area of bushveld. The southern white rhinoceros population in Southern Africa was reduced to less than 100 individuals about 1900 but today numbers well over 17,000, one of the most remarkable success stories in African conservation. Some of these animals have been redistributed to several other parks and reserves in Southern Africa.

The northern white rhinoceros formerly inhabited South Sudan and adjacent areas of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, extending westward into the Central African Republic. However, wild populations are thought to have gone extinct, and only five individuals have been confirmed as still alive—two living in captivity (one each in the San Diego Zoo in the United States and in the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic) and three residing in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.