Medical Problems of Captive and Wild Rhinoceros: A Review of the Literature and Personal Experiences

Introduction This paper reviews the literature and, where applicable, adds personal findings on the medical and surgical problems of rhinoceros. A bibliography of some of the older rhinoceros literature prior to 1955 is available.43 The family Rhinocerotidae (nose horns) is represented today by miniature descendents compared to the Baluchiterium species of a million years ago, which was a hornless rhinoceros, seventeen feet at the shoulder and thirty-four feet from the nose to the tip of the tail. Five species are in existence today, two African and three Asian, Diceros bicornis (African black or hook-lipped rhinoceros), Cerathotherium simum (white rhinoceros or Burchell's rhinoceros), and Rhinoceros unicornis (Great Indian rhinoceros). The first two species occur in Africa, while the latter is the largest Asian representative. Rhinoceros sondaicus (Javan or lesser one-horned rhinoceros) and Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (Sumatran or Asiatic two-homed rhinoceros) are the other Asian species with their survival in the wild, at best, precarious. Neither are they represented in captive collections. As is true in all zoo animal medicine, knowledge of anatomy, physiology, ethology, and ecology of these temperamental giants is essential to correct diagnosis and intelligent medical care. Several books and scientific papers have been written on the ecology and ethology of the various rhinoceros species.30>52?56,72,81,89