White rhinoceros

Nutrition

After the elephant, the white rhino is one of the four largest herbivores that have ever lived. The males of these pachyderms can weigh up to 3,600 kilograms - and they feed almost exclusively on grass, which they only tear off with their lips to a height of one centimetre.

Distribution

The white rhino is found in bush and savannah areas of central and southern Africa.

Rhinos can only see about 20 metres. However, they have an excellent sense of hearing and smell. If the wind is favourable, they can pick up scent from up to 730 m away.

Adult rhinos have no natural enemies. However, they are highly endangered due to poaching.

The hornless rhinoceros

The white rhino in the exhibition has exciting decades behind it - almost like in a thriller. It was walled up in the museum during the First World War to protect it from damage, later stood as a single exhibit in the atrium and is now part of the savannah display. The exhibit remained in its full splendour for more than 100 years - with two horns on its face. While the horns were once coveted as trophies by big game hunters, today many people believe in the alleged healing properties of a powder extracted from the horn. However, nail biting would be similarly effective, as the horn of the rhinoceros is made of keratin, just like our nails and hair.

As the trade has long been illegal and the animals are strictly protected in the wild, it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain horns. Some thieves have therefore resorted to stealing them from natural history museums. Those responsible at the Museum Koenig Bonn therefore acted with foresight: in 2013, the natural horns were removed, secured in the safe and replaced on the exhibit with artificial but deceptively real-looking horns. And these were stolen during a break-in on the night of 16 to 17 May 2013. It is not known whether the thieves were able to turn the fake horns into money. But the rhino has not had a horn since then.

White rhinoceros