Eastern Black Rhinoceros

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Perissodactyla
Family:	Rhinocerotidae
Genus:	Diceros
Species:	D. bicornis
Subspecies:	D. b. michaeli

Trinomial name

Diceros bicornis michaeli
Zukowsky, 1965

The Eastern Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) also known as the East African Black Rhinoceros is a subspecies of the Black Rhino. It's numbers are very low due to poaching for its horn and they are listed as critically endangered.

1 Description
2 Population and Threats
3 Resources
4 External links

[edit] Description

The Eastern Black Rhino is distinguishable from the southern subspecies as it has a longer, leaner, and curved horn. Its skin is also very grooved. Diceros bicornis michaeli is reportedly more aggressive than the other three subspecies of Black Rhino. Browsers and are usually found in highland forest and savanna habitat.

[edit] Population and Threats

Once was located in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Now they can only be found in Kenya (86.3 % of the remaining population survives here) and in northern Tanzania. Sadly they have declined 90% in the last three generations and their population is stable in Kenya. In 2001 there numbers were estimated at 498 rhinos in the wild. They are threatened mainly from illegal poaching for their horns.