White Rhinoceros
Ceratotherium simum · Mammals
White Rhinoceros
Masai Mara, 20 February 2020
A White Rhinoceros grazing in the Mara, head low, on the short grass it lives on. White rhinos are grazers of the open savanna, and this one is part of a small reintroduced population; the species was never native to Kenya and the animals here descend from South African stock.
The mouth settles the species. The lip is broad and squared off for cropping grass, where a black rhino's comes to a hooked point for pulling leaves off bushes. The name has nothing to do with colour - it is probably the Dutch "wijd", wide, for that lip, misheard by the English. Both species came very close to being lost. Kenya's black rhino fell from around 20,000 in 1970 to under 400 by the mid-1980s, almost all of it poaching for horn. The white rhino's story is the one that has gone right: from a few dozen animals in South Africa a century ago to the commonest rhino on earth.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
Every photograph comes with notes on what it is.
Selected
Favourite shots. Filter by subject, or .
Places
Everything, by where it was taken.
Species
Larger catalogue of photos organized by species of animal or plant.
Catalogue
Every photograph, newest first. Narrow it by period, place or species; the three work together.
Updates
Coming soon. Sign up at the bottom of the page for updates.