Ceratotherium simum 
Endangered 
     Next to the elephant, the white rhino is the largest land mammal and can weigh up to 3.6 metric tons. Its two horns are positioned one behind the other and its thick hide is relatively smooth and light in colour. It is not, however, white. The young are quite hairy, but adults are hairless except for their ear rims, tail tip, and eyelashes. As with other rhinos, the white rhino has poor vision but a keen sense of smell. 
     The white rhino is more placid and sociable than other species, often forming into small groups. So large and powerful are these animals they must give way only to the elephant; nevertheless, their young sometimes fall victim to lions. The major threat to their existence, however, has been from man who, over the years, has slaughtered them by the thousands, sometimes to make way for civilization, and in other cases, in the mistaken belief that their horns possessed the power of an aphrodisiac. In Asia the rhinoceros is close to extinction.