National animal of Lesotho

National animal of Lesotho

Black Rhinoceros is the official National animal of Lesotho. The Black Rhinoceros was entitled as the “official Lesotho’s National animal”. Diceros bicornis is the scientific name of the Black Rhino, which is commonly known as Black Rhinoceros, African Black Rhinoceros, and Black Rhino. It is also known as hook-lipped rhinoceros. Lesotho’s National animal, The Black Rhinoceros are native to the range of eastern and southern African state that includes BotswanaKenyaMalawiNamibiaMozambiqueSwazilandSouth AfricaZambia, Tanzania,  and Zimbabwe. The Government of Lesotho has designating the Black Rhino as the official National animal of Lesotho.

National animal of Lesotho facts

  • Common Name: Black Rhinoceros, African Black Rhinoceros, and Black Rhino.
  • Scientific Name: Diceros bicornis
  • Habitat: Black rhinoceroses can live in numerous habitats like tropical and subtropical region with the range from deserts to grasslands. They are also extant in African forests where grasslands and forests phase into one another.
  • Length: The average length, from nose to tail, of males of this species is 9.8–12.3 feet (3–3.75 m) long. Females are being few smaller.
  • Weight: The Black Rhinos are generally weighed from the range of 800 to 1,400 kg, however bizarrely large male has been reported at up to 2,199–2,896 kg. The female rhinos are usually smaller than the males.
  • Height: An adult black rhinoceros stands at the shoulder about 55–71 inches (140–180 cm) high.
  • Color: Lesotho’s national animal is referred to as black rhinos but black is not its color. The color range of black rhinos is from brown to grey.
  • Diet: As an herbivorous browser, the black rhinoceros eats verdant plants, branches, shoots, thorny wood bushes, twigs, woody shrubs, small trees, legumes, grass and fruit. They have known to eat up to 220 species of plants.
  • Major strength: Agility, spirit and speed and very well-developed senses of smelling and hearing.
  • Major weakness: Rhinos have poor eyesight
  • Lifespan: About 35years in the wild and 45 years in captivity.

Lesotho’s national animal black rhinos characteristically are lonely creatures when they are reaching adulthood. However, at the time of mating, they come together. Black rhinos are polygynous. Male rhinos begin a wooing by following females, including their children those are reliant on them, for approximately one or two weeks before mating begins; even though when sleeping, the male and female endure in interaction with one another. When insertion is really completed, copulation persists between 20 and 40 minutes. The female rhino has re-occurrence to a state of heat within 35 days of the previous copulation if their previous mating was unsuccessful. The female rhinos give birth to one offspring at a time after a gestation period of 15 months, which usually weighs between 20 and 25 kg. The males reach maturity between 7 and 8 years while the females are little faster than male, they have reach maturity at the age of 5 to 7 years.

The national animal of Lesotho, the Black rhinos boast two horns, the foremost horn is more prominent than the other. It grows as well as three inches per year and has been growing up to five feet long as we know. Females use their horns to protect their child, while the male rhino uses them to battle attackers. The rhino’s horn has no bone and it is not attached with its skull; it is not also resonating like elephant tusks. It is known that the longest horns of black rhino were 4 feet 9 inches long. Most of the rhinos have been killed for the hard, hair like growth protuberant horn, which is esteemed for medicinal uses in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It is also prized in North Africa and the Middle East for uses as an ornamental dagger handle.

Lesotho’s national animal, the Black rhinos have been on Appendix I of CITES since 1977. Additionally, black rhinos have been listed since 1980 under the United States Endangered Species Act. Black rhinos are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List. Currently, there are four subspecies of black rhinos: D. bicornis bicornis, D. bicornis longipes, D. bicornis minor, and D. bicornis michaeli. The first subspecies is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN 2008 Red List, and the latter three are all listed as critically endangered. Conservation efforts to preserve black rhinos include establishing a ban against the horn trade, creating fenced sanctuaries for black rhinos to better protect them from poachers, and dehorning black rhinos to decrease the incentive for poaching. With these efforts, the total population of 2,400 black rhinos towards the end of the twentieth century increased to 3,100 black rhinos by 2001. (Brooks, 2002; Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 2009; IUCN Species Survival Commission, 2008; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2009; World Wildlife Fund, 2004)

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