Collected by: Miville, Baron. The young defend their mother courageously. Here is the proof: in the company of Baron MIVILLE, of the Museum of Basel, who shot a female [in Uganda?], we were attacked on two occasions by her calf while we stripped it. We found in her body a fetus, which already showed the nails and the beginning of horns. The Baron Miville gave the animal to us for our national Museum, where it has served the studies of Professor Anthony.. In Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
Collected by: Miville, Baron. The young defend their mother courageously. Here is the proof: in the company of Baron MIVILLE, of the Museum of Basel, who shot a female [in Uganda?], we were attacked on two occasions by her calf while we stripped it. We found in her body a fetus, which already showed the nails and the beginning of horns. The Baron Miville gave the animal to us for our national Museum, where it has served the studies of Professor Anthony.. In Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
Collected by: Miville, Baron. The young defend their mother courageously. Here is the proof: in the company of Baron MIVILLE, of the Museum of Basel, who shot a female [in Uganda?], we were attacked on two occasions by her calf while we stripped it. We found in her body a fetus, which already showed the nails and the beginning of horns. The Baron Miville gave the animal to us for our national Museum, where it has served the studies of Professor Anthony.. In Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
Uganda. We met this rhinoceros in the savannas with high plants of the sides of the Nile.
One says this species less aggressive that the other, however we noted close to Aba that a small truck had been attacked by one them and that the one which we have killed for the Museum of Paris, a male, attacked us without the least provocation.
White rhinoceros - Ceratotherium simum Cottoni (Burchell). He lives in the Northwest of the Uganda and in the French Sudan (Abech?) and Egyptian Sudan.
This rhinoceros is parasitized by Oestrides, of which we found of numerous larvas hung to the partitions of the stomach.
His square superior lip facilitates him to hold the herbs which it cuts off easily. He browses more than the black rhinoceros and eats less foliage. It is a fact which one can see in the dung that he deposits in heaps in one place that he frequents and doesn't go too far away from.
This animal customarily lives among spiny bushes, but one also finds it in forests and on mountains. Although sedentary, he sometimes moves and goes far in the arid plains.
The small birds that they carry warn them of the approach of a danger while flying off, but when these are absent and when one approaches with a favorable wind, one can come very close to them without bothering them. We had this experience with a car. We drove around in the savanna, far from all roads, in search of interesting photos to take. As we approached a big dry stream, we saw a rhinoceros lying under an acacia. As the place was without stones, we could run away easily, so we tried to raise the pachyderm with warning shots, but, to our surprise, he didn't move. Making a detour, we came back from the other direction, the breeze blowing toward the rhinoceros. It did not take long, in the blink of an eye, he was on his feet and climbed the slope that separated us. The following instant, he charged. It shows that the smell is superior to the hearing among these pachyderms and provoke the defensive reflex more easily.
Their favorite food is the foliage of the acacias, but they know how to break down the cactiform euphorbias to eat them, when the latex doesn't flow anymore.
His square superior lip facilitates him to hold the herbs which it cuts off easily. He browses more than the black rhinoceros and eats less foliage. It is a fact which one can see in the dung that he deposits in heaps in one place that he frequents and doesn't go too far away from.
This animal customarily lives among spiny bushes, but one also finds it in forests and on mountains.
The poor eyesight of these enormous beasts is maybe reason of his stupidity, because they are incapable to distinguish a man at 50 meters and are surprised to suddenly find a thing or a being that could be an enemy. At this short distance the only defense open to them seems to be an inconsiderate attack.
Their favorite food is the foliage of the acacias, but they know how to break down the cactiform euphorbias to eat them, when the latex doesn't flow anymore.
The black rhinoceroses are rather nocturnal. They pass the whole middle of the day sleeping, often in the shade of the trees in a dry river bed. Although sedentary, he sometimes moves and goes far in the arid plains. At night, these animals show more activity, they play and simulate fights, a little like the boar of Europe.
Like them, they have permanent pathways, but these are only well marked close to their den. Their trails are little distinct, except in the difficult or very often frequented places, and one realizes that they go either left or right without worrying about it.
The small birds that they carry warn them of the approach of a danger while flying off, but when these are absent and when one approaches with a favourable wind, one can come very close to them without bothering them.
They have the habit to urinate to the same place, every day, in the bottom of a ravine where the rocks are whitened by urine. Contrary to the white rhinoceros, they don't deposit their dung in one place, but they disperse it by kicking it with their legs.
Intelligence is little developed in the rhinoceros which, in actual fact, is just a brute. He attacks what he sees and doesn't realize the dangers of his attack. So every year, some are killed by the locomotives of the Uganda Railway. The poor eyesight of these enormous beasts is maybe reason of his stupidity, because they are incapable to distinguish a man at 50 metres and are surprised to suddenly find a thing or a being that could be an enemy. At this short distance the only defence open to them seems to be an inconsiderate attack. The small birds that they carry warn them of the approach of a danger while flying off, but when these are absent and when one approaches with a favourable wind, one can come very close to them without bothering them. We had this experience with a car. We drove around in the savanna, far from all roads, in search of interesting photos to take. As we approached a big dry stream, we saw a rhinoceros lying under an acacia. As the place was without stones, we could run away easily, so we tried to raise the pachyderm with warning shots, but, to our surprise, he didn't move. Making a detour, we came back from the other direction, the breeze blowing toward the rhinoceros. It did not take long, in the blink of an eye, he was on his feet and climbed the slope that separated us. The following instant, he charged. It shows that the smell is superior to the hearing among these pachyderms and provoke the defensive reflex more easily. The Maasais avoid the charge of the rhino by jumping on the side as he lowers the head to hit. 'He is not able to see us at that moment', they say. It is probably right, because these natives are good observers, who, before the European medicines, had noticed that malaria was transmitted by a mosquito.
The rhinoceroses, taken while young, become tame very well and attach themselves to their master to the point of being bothersome (Hartley).
They have an antipathy for elephants, but don't dare to attack them.
They have the habit to urinate to the same place, every day, in the bottom of a ravine where the rocks are whitened by urine.
The Maasais that live in the country of the rhinos say that the females only have two or three calves, because they are torn by the horn of the young while putting it to the world. We don't believe it, because one often meets the mothers having very long horns, which shows an advanced age. These natives avoid the charge of the rhino by jumping on the side as he lowers the head to hit. 'He is not able to see us at that moment', they say. It is probably right, because these natives are good observers, who, before the European medicines, had noticed that malaria was transmitted by a mosquito.
He browses more than the black rhinoceros and eats less foliage. It is a fact which one can see in the dung that he deposits in heaps in one place that he frequents and doesn't go too far away from.
One says this species less aggressive that the other, however we noted close to Aba that a small truck had been attacked by one them and that the one which we have killed for the Museum of Paris, a male, attacked us without the least provocation.
The young defend their mother courageously. Here is the proof: in the company of Baron Miville, of the Museum of Basel, who shot a female, we were attacked on two occasions by her calf while we stripped it. We found in her body a fetus, which already showed the nails and the beginning of horns.
The females appeared to us to be alone with their young or in small groups.
On the way to Khartoum, Colonel Barker, Game Warden of Sudan, showed us three bags of horns of white rhinos coming from our neighboring colony. They contained horns of all sizes, some of which came from young animals. He asked us to help him stop the massacre of this interesting animal, which is disappearing. Some efficient measures were taken after our return thanks to the intervention of President Paul Doumer, who at this time directed the meetings of the Naturalists of the Museum. We have unfortunately heard that after a reprise of several years, there was a resumption of illicit trade of rhino horns coming of Abebh? and taken to the Indies. The bags of horns crossed the border before the last war and passed in front of Colonel Barker, unable to stop them. It is a pity that there is no understanding between the French Government and the one of the Egyptian Sudan concerning the passage of the trophies gathered illegally and exported for sale, as the one in force between the Belgian Congo and the neighboring British territory.
Kenya. The Maasais that live in the country of the rhinos say that the females only have two or three calves, because they are torn by the horn of the young while putting it to the world. We don't believe it, because one often meets the mothers having very long horns, which shows an advanced age.
