“The White Rhinoceros (Rhino) “

Arwan Saputro

The rhinoceros is a large, primitive looking mammal that in fact dates from the Miocene era millions of years ago. In recent decades rhinos have been relentlessly hunted to the point of near extinction. Since 1970 the world rhino population has declined by 90 percent, with five species remaining in the world today, all of which are endangered.

The white or square-lipped rhino is one of two rhino species in Africa. It in turn occurs as two subspecies, the southern and the northern. The southern dwindled almost to extinction in the early 20th century, but was protected on farms and reserves, enabling it to increase enough to be reintroduced. The northern white rhino has recovered in Democratic Republic of Congo from about 15 in 1984 to about 30 in the late 1990s. This population has been threatened by political conflict and instability.

There are two kinds of rhino who live in Africa, first is Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) and second is White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). The white rhino's name derives from the Dutch "weit," meaning wide, a reference to its wide, square muzzle adapted for grazing. The white rhino, which is actually grey, has a pronounced hump on the neck and a long face. While the black, or hooked-lipped rhino, along with all other rhino species, is an odd-toed ungulate (three toes on each foot). It has a thick, hairless, grey hide. Both the black and white rhino have two horns, the longer of which sits at the front of the nose.

Rhino includes the bigest land mamals who live in africa besides elephant and other mamals. Rhino can live up to 35 to 40 years. The size of the rhinoceros stands about 60 inches at the shoulder. And the weight of Black Rhino is 1 to 1½ tons, while White Rhino is over 2 tons.
 

Diet description of The black rhino is a browser, with a triangular-shaped upper lip ending in a mobile grasping point. It eats a large variety of vegetation, including leaves, buds and shoots of plants, bushes and trees. While the white rhino is a grazer feeding on grasses.
 

Rhinos live in home ranges that sometimes overlap with each other. Feeding grounds, water holes and wallows may be shared. The black rhino is usually solitary. The white rhino tends to be much more gregarious. Rhinos are also rather ill-tempered and have become more so in areas where they have been constantly disturbed. While their eyesight is poor, which is why they will often charge without apparent reason, their sense of smell and hearing are very good.

They have an extended "vocabulary" of growls, grunts, squeaks, snorts and bellows. When attacking, the rhino lowers its head, snorts, breaks into a gallop reaching speeds of 30 miles an hour, and gores or strikes powerful blows with its horns. Still, for all its bulk, the rhino is very agile and can quickly turn in a small space.

The rhino has a symbiotic relationship with oxpeckers, also called tick birds. In Swahili the tick bird is named "askari wa kifaru," meaning "the rhino's guard." The bird eats ticks it finds on the rhino and noisily warns of danger. Although the birds also eat blood from sores on the rhino's skin and thus obstruct healing, they are still tolerated.

ARWAN’S FAMILY

My family has four members: those are I, my sister, my brother and parents of course.

My mother is 43 years old. Her name's Dwi Winarti . She's thin-faced and she's got long, straight hair and beautiful black eyes. She is still rather slim because she always tries to stay in shape. She is very good-looking, always use veil .

My father, Rosidi, is 5 years older than my mother. He is 48. In spite of his age he's still black-haired, with several white hairs. He has black eyes. He is quite tall, but a bit shorter than me. He's very hard-working. Besides that he is working in our market . He can even make a dinner when my mother is outside. His cooking and his meals are always very tasty as well as my mothers'.

Finally, my sister and my brother ,Zahwa and Dinan. Zahwa is 6 years old. Dinan is 11 years old. She is also black-haired and black-eyed. She has long straight hair and freckles. She is definitely shorter than me. She is rather introverted. But she is very sensible, smart and co-operative. Right now she is studying Arabic . I want to be so smart as she is.

They all, except me, speak Javanese very well, because we were living in Yogyakarta for  long years. My sister have been going to primary school there. Unfortunately I was only. And we are happily living in Yogyakarta.