To shoot females is prohibited.
Horns. Locality: Burma, Singpho. In coll. Sir Charles Elliot, United Kingdom
Mounted skin, horn. In coll. Museum, Ipswich, United Kingdom
Horns. Locality: Burma, Singpho. In coll. Sir Charles Elliot, United Kingdom
Horn. In coll. Dr. Jerdon, United Kingdom.
Following the late Dr. W. T. Blanford, it is stated on page 30 that the range of this species is mainly, if not entirely restricted to the countries east of the Tista. Later information (see a letter from Col. Manners Smith in the Field for 1909, vol. cxiv. p. 177) shows that the animal abounds in parts of the Nepal Terai, where it seems to be more abundant than in its supposed last strongholds in Kuch Behar and Assam. During a rhinoceros hunt organised by the Nepal Government in January and February 1907, a large number of adults were killed and half-a-dozen calves captured alive.
the colour of the skin is blackish grey, showing more or less of pink on the margins of the folds.
Rhinoceros unicornis. Not improbably the rhinoceroses found till about the year 1850 in the grass-jungles of the Rajmahal Hills, in Bengal, belonged to the present species..
and down to the middle of the last century, or even later, it was to be met with along the foot of the Himalaya as far west as Rohilcund and Nepal, and it survived longer still in the Terai of Sikhim.
and down to the middle of the last century, or even later, it was to be met with along the foot of the Himalaya as far west as Rohilcund and Nepal, and it survived longer still in the Terai of Sikhim..
There is historical evidence to prove that during the early part of the sixteenth century the great Indian rhinoceros was common in the Punjab, where it extended across the Indus as far as Peshawur.
As regards the cheek-teeth, those of the upper jaw are practically indistinguishable from the corresponding molars of the Javan rhinoceros, and may accordingly be taken as indicative of the leaf- and twig-eating propensities of this species.
Gargadan
Gainda
The folds of skin round the neck are also much less developed, and the body-fold on the shoulders is continued right across the back in the same manner as are the other two great folds. Moreover, owing to the absence of the deep groove on the rump, the tail stands out quite distinct from the hind-quarters, so that its whole extent is exposed in a side view. Very characteristic also is the structure of the skin, which lacks the 'boiler-rivets' of the great Indian species, and is marked all over with a kind of mosaic-like pattern, caused by the presence of a network of fine cracks in the superficial layer. A piece of skin cut from any part of the body is therefore amply sufficient to determine to which of the two species it pertained.
The present species is of the same dusky-grey colour as the last,
Badak
Kweda
Kunda
Kedi
Dicerorhinus sumatrensis. In the Mergui Archipelago a rhinoceros, which may be this species, is stated to have been seen swimming from island to island.
According.to native reports, there exists in the Singpho country a rhinoceros of larger size than either the two-horned Rhinoceros sumatrensis or the single-horned R. sondaicus. For this animal the natives have a name distinct from those which they apply respectively to the two species just named, and they further describe it as being of huge size, comparing it in this respect with an elephant. Now the Singpho country, which is the area marked in the Times Atlas as the dis- trict inhabited by the Kachins or Singphos (Kakhyens), is the tract lying on the headwaters of the Chindwin River, this being separated from the north-eastern extremity of the Assam Valley only by the Naga-Hills and the Patkai Range. Consequently, the suggestion naturally arises that the Singpho rhinoceros may be a representative of the great Indian Rhinoceros unicornis, whose chief habitat at the present day is the Assam Valley.
Teeth of this type have been discovered in Madras and at Bunda, in the North-West Provinces, as well as in the river-gravels of the Narbada valley, and may be taken to indicate that the range of the species included these parts of India.
its colour, which varies from earthy-brown to almost black, is. likewise different from that of either of the onehorned species.
the colour of the skin is blackish grey, showing more or less of pink on the margins of the folds.
Kyan-tsheng
Kyeng
Gonda
Karkadan
As regards the cheek-teeth, those of the upper jaw are practically indistinguishable from the corresponding molars of the Javan rhinoceros, and may accordingly be taken as indicative of the leaf- and twig-eating propensities of this species.
its disposition is, however, stated to be more gentle, and in Java tame individuals are frequently to be seen wandering about the villages of the natives. Mr. T. R. Hubback, on the evidence of native testimony, affirms that either this or the next species uses its lower tusks for fighting in the same way as the great Indian rhinoceros.
The present species is of the same dusky-grey colour as the last, and its hide is equally devoid of hair.
Yet another peculiarity of the Javan rhinoceros is to be found in the frequent, if not invariable, absence of the horn in the female. Male horns of between 10 and 11 inches in length are recorded.
The weight has been estimated at a couple of thousand pounds.
Although found in the swampy Sandarbans of Lower Bengal, within a day's journey of Calcutta, the Javan rhinoceros prefers forest tracts to grass-jungles, and is generally met within hilly districts where it apparently ascends in some parts of its habitat several thousand feet above sea-level.
In the jungles of Assam the Indian rhinoceros not only dwells, but is as completely concealed as is a rabbit in a cornfield. To those who have never seen Indian grass jungles, it may seem incredible that such a huge animal should be hidden by such covert, but when it is realised that the grass of which they are formed grows to a height of between 10 and 20 feet, the difficulty vanishes.
The cheek-teeth, however, although numerically the same as in the Indian rhinoceros, show a simpler pattern, while their crowns wear into ridges instead of a uniformly flat plane. This may be taken to indicate that the present species feeds chiefly upon twigs and leaves.
The present species is of the same dusky-grey colour as the last, and its hide is equally devoid of hair.
Yet another peculiarity of the Javan rhinoceros is to be found in the frequent, if not invariable, absence of the horn in the female. Male horns of between 10 and 11 inches in length are recorded.
its colour, which varies from earthy-brown to almost black, is. likewise different from that of either of the onehorned species.
The folds of skin round the neck are also much less developed, and the body-fold on the shoulders is continued right across the back in the same manner as are the other two great folds. Moreover, owing to the absence of the deep groove on the rump, the tail stands out quite distinct from the hind-quarters, so that its whole extent is exposed in a side view. Very characteristic also is the structure of the skin, which lacks the 'boiler-rivets' of the great Indian species, and is marked all over with a kind of mosaic-like pattern, caused by the presence of a network of fine cracks in the superficial layer. A piece of skin cut from any part of the body is therefore amply sufficient to determine to which of the two species it pertained.
The present species is of the same dusky-grey colour as the last,
Morning and evening are the chief feeding-times, the heat of the day being generally passed in slumber.
No one is likely to confound a 'rhino' with a giraffe, and yet these are the only two groups of living land animals furnished with a horn situated in the middle line of the skull. The horn of a giraffe is, however, very unlike the horn (or horns) of a rhinoceros, being composed of a boss of bone, covered with skin, and situated on the forehead of the skull, to which in adult age it is immovably attached. In all living rhinoceroses, on the other hand, the horn (or horns) is composed of agglutinated hairs, and has no firm atttachment to the bones of the skull, which are merely roughened and somewhat elevated so as to fit into the concave base of the solid horn. As Sir Samuel Baker has well remarked, the attachment of the horn of a rhinoceros to the skull is very like that of the leaves of an artichoke to the 'choke.' In those species of living rhinoceros in which there is a single horn, this is placed immediately above the nose, and it is only in the two-horned species that there is a horn on the forehead, comparable in position with the giraffe's median horn. There is, however, an extinct Siberian rhinoceros with a single horn having the same situation as the latter. An equally marked structural difference obtains between the solid hair-like horn of a rhinoceros and the hollow horn of an ox, sheep, or antelope on the one hand, and the entirely bony antler of a deer, so that these appendages are absolutely distinctive of the former animals. It happens, however, that the female of the Javan rhinoceros is frequently more or less completely hornless, and since the same condition obtained in both sexes of certain extinct species (some of which are found in India), it is obvious that other characters must be sought in order to properly define these animals.
Its usual height at the shoulder not being more than 4 to 4 ? feet, and the length from the tip of the muzzle to the root of the tail only about 8 feet.
Individuals have lived for over twenty years in the London Zoological Gardens, and it is stated that others have been kept in confinement for fully fifty years. Consequently, there is no doubt that the animal is long-lived, and it has been suggested that its term of life may reach as much as a century.
The cow gives birth to a single young one at a time
The rhinoceros referred to on page 31 as having lived in the London Zoological Gardens for over twenty years actually lived there from 1864 to 1904.
Yet another peculiarity of the Javan rhinoceros is to be found in the frequent, if not invariable, absence of the horn in the female. Male horns of between 10 and 11 inches in length are recorded.
So far as present information goes, the mainland form cannot be distinguished from those inhabiting the Malay islands, so that separate local races cannot yet be differentiated. It is, however, quite likely that this is due to the want of a good series of specimens, the British Museum having, in addition to skulls and skeletons, only the skin of a young calf in a condition fit for public exhibition.
Although possessing only a single horn, the Javan rhinoceros is a very different beast, both externally and in its internal anatomy, from the preceding species. In the first place, although measurements of adult males are still required, it is a somewhat smaller and lighter-built animal, with a relatively less bulky and less elevated head. The folds of skin round the neck are also much less developed, and the body-fold on the shoulders is continued right across the back in the same manner as are the other two great folds. Moreover, owing to the absence of the deep groove on the rump, the tail stands out quite distinct from the hind-quarters, so that its whole extent is exposed in a side view. Very characteristic also is the structure of the skin, which lacks the 'boiler-rivets' of the great Indian species, and is marked all over with a kind of mosaic-like pattern, caused by the presence of a network of fine cracks in the superficial layer. A piece of skin cut from any part of the body is therefore amply sufficient to determine to which of the two species it pertained.
In Tenasserim and the Malay Peninsula it is replaced by a smaller, blacker, and less hairy form, which if distinct from the typical Sumatran animal (as is probably the case) should be known as R. sumatrensis niger.
Its usual height at the shoulder not being more than 4 to 4 ? feet, and the length from the tip of the muzzle to the root of the tail only about 8 feet. Some female specimens even fall short of the foregoing dimensions, an old individual from the Malay Peninsula being only 3 feet 8 inches at the withers.
