Top ten facts about rhinoceroses

There are only about 60 Javan rhinos left in the world and fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos

September 22 is World Rhino Day, a campaign held every year on September 22 by the Save The Rhino charity (savetherhino.org) to support endangered rhinos.

 

1. There are five species of rhino: the black rhino, white rhino, Sumatran rhino, Javan rhino and greater one-horned rhino.

2. The black rhino, white rhino, Sumatran rhino and Javan rhino are all listed as critically endangered species by the World Wildlife Fund.

3. There are only about 60 Javan rhinos left in the world and fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos.

4. The original word rhinoceros (meaning nose-horn) dates back to the late 14th century, however, we have been calling it a rhino only since 1870.

5. The adjectives for pertaining to a rhinoceros are rhinocerine or rhinocerotic.

6. The plural is rhinoceroses or rhinocerotes (rare) but not rhinoceri, which is quite wrong.

7. The only Shakespeare play that mentions a rhinoceros is Macbeth.

8. The remains of a baby woolly rhino were found earlier this year in a frozen riverbank in Siberia.

9. The woolly rhino roamed Europe from 350,000 years ago until it became extinct 10,000 years ago.

10. The 2008 comedy horror film Zombie Strippers is said to be based on Eugene Ionescu's play Rhinoceros, only with zombies instead of rhinos.