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Sinhalese Rhino (or Greater Three-horned Rhino)
Topic Started: Nov 1 2006, 04:10 PM (108 Views)
africanwilddog
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Packyderm Curator
Yeah a Three-horned rhino. Its full common name is Greater Sinhalese Three-horned Rhino but it is often referred to as just Sinhalese Rhino.

Latin name - Rhinoceros triceratops sinhalensis

Distribution - Southern India and Sri Lanka
Habitat - Wet lowland rainforests, sometimes in grassland patches
Conservation Status - Critically endangered, hunted severely for its three horns all of which are used in Traditional chinese medicine, also threatened by deforestation.

Descrpition - Small for rhinos but much larger than the Red Rhino (see bottom), the Sinhalese Rhino is between a Sumatran and Javan rhino in size, perfectly adapted to dense and open forest. It is actually a more blackish in color and is the darkest rhino. It does have a reddish patch on its legs and some individuals have brownish or whitish patches on the face near the eyes which is due to recessive genes.

Behavior - Slightly social, congregating in grasslands in herds of 20-30 but in forest solitary, moving singly or in pairs. Food mainly browsing and fallen fruit, but also grazes, and occasionally rises on its unusually strong hind legs to feed on higher branches, just like gerenuks and some elephants in Africa. Very very agressive and short-sighted, with no natural predators. However young calves are often taken by dhole packs and sometimes even tigers. These rhinos need close access to water, and are strictly territorial as well, with fierce clashes between males and females who overlap territories by more than a small percent.

The most unusual charcteristics are that these rhinos are strictly nocturnal, and only in grassland regions will they occasionally come out before dusk or after dawn. They are also shy and their numbers are falling. All this together with their sometimes impenetrable habitat makes them difficult to spot and all that we know about them comes from years of intesive study of wild, semiwild and captive popularions.

Right now there are about 200 in the wild, with 50 in captivity between zoos in the US (San Diego one of them), UK, France, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Semi-captive ones exist in Southern India.

Yes I know I've detailed it a lot!


Similar Species - Lesser Three-horned Rhino (also made up) which overlaps with the Greater in Southern India and the Indian in Northern India, also known as the Red Rhino.

My ultimate favorite animals? - AWDs, Dholes, Hyenas, Caracals
Come down to the Asian XP thread!
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Cloub
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Could you tell us about the Lesser Three-Horned Rhino, too AWD? :rolleyes:
My favourite three animals: 3. Orca, 2. Indian Gharial, 1. Clouded Leopard!!
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Panda Lover
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Yeah, please tell us. :D :mellow:
My favourite 3 animals, 3. Komodo Island Monitor, 2. Clouded Leopard, 1. Red Panda!!
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