Diceros
bicornis, relatively fearless and unpredictable, the immense black rhinoceros
will charge people or animals, usually stopping just before impact.The largest black rhinos weigh 1.3 metric tons and are 3 metres (9.8 feet) tall.
They have two horns on their snouts, and in some black rhinos, the larger, front horn extends 81 centimetres (32 inches).
Used to make dagger handles in Yemen and medicines and aphrodisiacs in East Asia, a single rhino horn is worth thousands of dollars on the black market.
Consequently, the black rhinoceros and its close relative, the white rhinoceros, have been hunted nearly to extinction.
Black rhinos once ranged throughout Africa south of the Sahara but are now restricted to parks scattered throughout the range.
To prevent inbreeding and to ensure the survival of the species, park personnel truck rhinos between isolated reserves for mating.