It Charges Before It Can Even See You
The black rhino is the most aggressive rhino species and the fastest — up to 55 km/h — and its poor eyesight means it charges anything that moves, including trains and safari vehicles.
It Charges Before It Can Even See You
The black rhino is the most aggressive of the rhino species, and the reason is partly a defect: its eyesight is genuinely poor. It cannot resolve what is standing in front of it at any useful distance, so it resolves the ambiguity by charging.
Two Tons at Thirty-Four Miles an Hour
Black rhinos are the fastest rhinos, reaching speeds of up to about 55 kilometres per hour — roughly 34 miles per hour. An adult weighs somewhere between 800 and 1,400 kilograms. There are few land animals that combine that much mass with that much speed, and none of them are trying to avoid you.
The Horn Is Hair, Structurally Speaking
The front horn — always the longer of the two — can reach around 50 centimetres, sometimes considerably more. It is not bone and not ivory. It is keratin: the same structural protein as human fingernails and hair, compacted into a solid mass and driven forward by two tons of animal. The material is unremarkable. The delivery system is not.
Charging Things That Are Obviously Not Predators
Because the animal reacts to movement rather than recognition, black rhinos have been recorded charging vehicles, and are known for going after things no animal has any business attacking. Safari guides treat a black rhino’s attention as a reason to move, not a reason to observe.
Poor eyesight, a short temper, and a keratin spike moving at highway speed — the black rhino does not need to identify you to run you down.
