Southern white rhinos were thought to be extinct in the late 19th century, but in 1895 a small population of fewer than 100 individuals was discovered in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. The majority (98.8%) of the southern white rhinos occur in just four countries: South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. They live in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya and are protected round-the-clock by armed guards. Their near extinction is due to decades of rampant poaching for rhino horn. As of March 2018, there are only two rhinos of the northern white rhino left, both of which are female. Two genetically different subspecies exist the northern and southern white rhino, and are found in two different regions in Africa. Also known as the square-lipped rhinoceros, white rhinos have a square upper lip with almost no hair.
White rhinos are the second-largest land mammal and their name comes from the Afrikaan’s, a West Germanic language, word “weit” which means wide and refers to the animal’s mouth.
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