Diceros bicornis

The black rhinoceros, also called the black rhino or the hooked-lip rhinoceros, is a species of rhinoceros native to East and Southern Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Although the species is referred to as black, its colours vary from brown to grey. It is the only extant species of the genus Diceros.

Diceros bicornis

AfricanConservation · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
black rhinocerosPBDB
Sits inside
DicerosPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Diceros
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Diceros
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Mass
36 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 82 occurrencesMiocene — about 11 of 82 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 17 of 82 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 51 of 82 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.3–5.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.5–4.7 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 14 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 23 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 12 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

82 occurrences of Diceros bicornis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

82 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

19 formations

Shungura — 5.11°N, 36.02°EShungura — 5.15°N, 36.04°EShungura — 5.04°N, 36.04°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.92°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.15°N, 36.40°EKoobi Fora — 4.32°N, 36.27°EKoobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.70°ENachukui — 4.53°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 4.23°N, 35.78°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENkondo/Warwire — 1.50°N, 31.00°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°EHadar — 11.14°N, 40.58°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EUSNO — 5.35°N, 36.17°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EVarswater & Bredasdorp — 32.98°S, 18.15°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EMursi — 5.44°N, 35.96°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°ENyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EKalam — 5.04°N, 36.00°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°ENawata or Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Diceros bicornis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 20 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Diceros bicornis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Diceros bicornis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

593 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 82 sites for Diceros bicornis, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

45 references

Each of the 82 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 33 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Diceros bicornis

Credit
AfricanConservation
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Diceros bicornis · DMNS:Mamm:DMNS:Mamm:16368

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDiceros through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)