Physics Application(s) Overview: Sound and infrasound; seismic communication.

Species distinctions: Black Rhinoceros: The Black rhinoceros is the smallest African rhinoceros.
Height: 1.4 to 1.5 m ( 4.6 to 5.0 ft)
Weight: 1000.0 to 1800.0 kg ( 2205.0 to 3968.0 lbs)
Body length: 3.0 to 3.75 m ( 3.5 to 12.5 ft)
Sexual maturity: at 5 years
Gestation period: approximately 17 to 18 months (anytime from 530 to 550 days)
Number of young: 1 calf
Life-span: 50 years (natural death of old age)
Diet: leaves, branches (of bushes and trees)
Distinctive qualities: two horns, where rear may grow as long as fore (average length of fore is 50.8 cm or 20 in); dark skin; upper lip is elongated and pointed (like a finger), allowing for gathering leaves in trees; less sociable, living in pairs or solitude; possesses dangerous temper and will charge without warning (will charge vehicles).

Species distinctions: Indian Rhinoceros: The Indian rhinoceros is one of the largest mammals worldwide.
Height: 0.9 to 2.1 m ( 3.0 to 7.0 ft)
Weight: 1497.0 to 4000.0 kg ( 3300.0 to 8818.0 lbs)
Body length: 2.1 to 4.2 m ( 7.0 to 14.0 ft)
Sexual maturity: females, 3 years; males, 7-9 years
Gestation period: approximately 15 to 16 months (anytime from 484 to 488 days)
Number of young: 1 calf
Life-span: 47 to 50 years (natural death of old age)
Diet: grass, twigs, bamboo shoots, what, lentils, potatoes
Distinctive qualities: still hunted for horn, believed to possess great power, and is worth much money when in powdered form, though its power is still neither proved nor disproved; body encased in armour of thick, rigid dermal plates linked by folds of loose, thin skin which allows the articulation of the plates against one another to allow free movement; partly social, partly solitary or in pairs; eats large quantities of grass; active during day and night, but prefers travel in dark when in areas of homo sapiens; less temperamental than other rhinoceros’.

Species distinctions: White Rhinoceros: The White rhinoceros is the largest land mammal after the elephant, with the Indian rhinoceros.
Height: 1.6 to 2.0 m ( 5.0 to 6.5 ft)
Weight: 2268.0 to 3629.0 kg ( 5000.0 to 8000.0 lbs)
Body length: 3.6 to 5.0 m ( 12.0 to 16.0 ft)
Sexual maturity: n/a
Gestation period: approximately 17 to 18 months
Number of young: 1 calf
Life-span: 40 (natural death of old age)
Diet: grass
Distinctive qualities: two horns, where fore is tapered and curved slightly and is always longer at average of 61.0 cm or 2.0 in but may reach more than 152.0 cm or 60.0 in; light grey skin colour; lives in savannah and grazes on grass; nose is short, stubby, wide, and squared off to graze at ground level; keen hearing and smell, weak eyesight; lives in solitude or pairs, but may also live in groups; ill tempered and may charge without reason; fast gallop and may turn 360.0 with ease.

Sound and infrasound: Very similar to the elephant, the largest pachyderm, the rhinoceros is also known to use infrasonic communication, however not for as long of distances as the elephant, as the species are not as widespread. Infrasound is particularly used when warning offspring.

Anemaw [Animal Electromagnetism and Waves] © Elizabeth Gerrow 2002 .