Square-lipped (White) Rhinoceros

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Ceratotherium simum, or "White" Rhinoceros, a.k.a. Square-lipped Rhinoceros. Click the caption for a much larger image.

This is a young white, or square-lipped rhinoceros that was still traveling with its mom (not shown) at Pilanesberg, a mineral and game park in South Africa not far from the famous "Sun City" Casino northwest of Pretoria.

Notice the wide lip. It could easily be called the wide-lipped rhino to distinguish it form the other African species ("black" or "bush" rhinoceros). The mouth parts of this creature are actually designed to act as a lawn mower, as the animals spend most of the time grazing along in grasslands munching, munching, munching.

In fact, the W Rhinos are very cow like, with many individuals more docile than some cattle.

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I thought that the "white" part of the name was actually "weit", or "wide" in Afrikaans. The "black" rhinos were named that purely as distinction from the mis-named "white", not their color, and are thus doubly mis-named.

Have I been misinformed?

I've never heard of the rhino's square mouth until now. It reminds me of the Nigersaurus, a dinosaur that was discovered a couple years ago, and which had a strangely shaped mouth. The Nigersaurus might also have been a ground-feeding herbivore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigersaurus

Very cool. What a magnificent creature.