Without many predators, and not dependent on specific prey, they flourished across Asia, North America, Africa and Europe, until the 1800s. For many millennia they did this exceptionally successfully. They were hunted to near extinction in the late 1800s, and amazingly, strict regulations protected them enough for resurgence in numbers.Īlthough they look dangerous, and are very intimidating in terms of sheer physical presence, they have always been peaceful vegans, concerned only with veggie munching and reproduction. The biggest difference today, however, is that the northern white rhino is functionally extinct, with only two females left on earth, and the southern white rhinos are thriving, at least by rhino standards. Southern white rhinos lived on the open savannah and thus present small differences because of that distinction in environment. The Northern white rhinos lived on marshy land, developing wider feet suited to the unstable ground, and hairier ears. The differences between a southern white rhino and northern white rhino are subtle, but they are a distinct species, having separated evolutionarily from around the ice age. The British interpreted this incorrectly as white, and the name stuck. Afrikaaner (originally Dutch, also colonists) settlers called the white rhino ‘wilde’, meaning wide, referring to their flatter, wider, mouths. Rather, it is a result of British colonial mishearing. The fact the African rhino is divided into ‘white’ and ‘black’ species has nothing to do with colour. The black rhino, slightly smaller and the same shade of grey, has a pointer mouth for navigating small shrubs and trees, their preferred diet. The white rhino (divided into the southern and northern species, indicating their geographic prevalence on the African continent) has a flat wide mouth for grass grazing. A grey block-like structure of flesh and winkled, leathery skin, with one or two sharp horns and small, weak eyes, set on either side of their enormous heads. These differing forms of the species settled into the rhino we know today. A particularly eccentric ancestor of the northern white rhino around at this time was the ‘ giraffe rhinoceros’, a particularly long necked large cousin one might not be so pleased to cross paths with.

Rhinos were around at this time in quite a few forms, including species that looked like hippos and tapirs. It is so long ago that the evolution of the whale had not begun yet, as the wolflike carnivores that became whales were still yet to migrate towards the oceans and begin the slow process of metamorphosis. There were a number of what would appear today as very strange creatures. Europe was a cluster of year-round warm islands. At this time, the earth looked completely different. The evolutionary story dates back around 55 million years.

The rhinoceros is often referred to as a living dinosaur, but it is actually older than that. The evolution of the northern white rhino How can I help save the northern white rhino from extinction?.Can science save the northern white rhino, and other species?.Where are Najin and Fatu? Ol Pejeta and the caretakers.The northern white rhino is functionally extinct, how did this happen?.The evolution of the northern white rhino.There are five embryos frozen in a storage facility that represent the last gasp hope for this species and BioRescue plan to have a calf on the ground to be raised by Najin and Fatu within the next 3 years. Scientists, spearheaded by a non-profit initiative, BioRescue, are on a mission to save the species by planting an embryo in a surrogate mother, Owuan, a southern white rhino. Najin is elderly and has health problems, Fatu is her daughter and although relatively young at 20 years, she cannot carry a calf to term. The window period before the species is fully extinct is closing, as only two females remain in northern Kenya, Najin and Fatu. The northern white rhino species has been declared functionally extinct.

Rhino officially extinct