On the first day of the Year of the Ox, you should talk about cattle-related things, you have written about some things before, such as the intricate cattle family, talk about the "horns" of mammals, and talk about rhinos today.
Picture (1) White rhinoceros, taken at Wuhan Zoo
Figure (2) The last male northern rhinoceros that has passed away
Rhinoceros is a collective name for 5 rhinoceros species, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, Indian rhinoceros, Javan rhinoceros and Sumatran rhinoceros, these five are of different rarity, white rhinoceros is the most familiar face, the domestic zoo exhibits rhinoceros are also mostly white rhinos, I have only photographed this one. In addition, the northern subspecies of the original white rhinoceros has been upgraded to an independent species, and only 2 females are left, and after a few years, they are afraid of "no-gangs", not to mention it.
Figure (3) Black Rhinoceros
The white rhinoceros is not white, gray, and the skin color and the black rhinoceros on the African continent are only between Bo Zhong, and both are "double rhino horns", and the appearance is more similar. The black rhino is much smaller than the white rhinoceros, but it is not easy to distinguish without a reference, so it is necessary to look at the mouth: the white rhino has a wide mouth, so it is also called "square-kissed rhinoceros"; the black rhino has a parrot mouth, which is said to be more conducive to collecting leaves from the bushes.
Figure (4) Sumatran rhinoceros
There are also 3 species of rhinos found in Asia. Sumatran Rhinoceros is the smallest, with an average weight of only 700 kg and the largest individual 1100 kg, the outstanding feature is covered with reddish brown hair, like a pocket version of the woolly rhinoceros reborn, but it and the woolly rhinoceros have no evolutionary inheritance relationship, if there is a similarity, it is purely coincidental. Note that the Sumen rhinoceros is also two rhino horns, and the female horns are shorter and sometimes extremely inconspicuous.
Figure (5) Indian rhinoceros
Figure (6) Javan rhinoceros
Both the Indian rhinoceros and the Javan rhinoceros are members of the genus Monocephalus, and the brothers look similar, with wide folds in their shoulder blades, under the neck, and at the joints of their limbs, like the armor of ancient warriors. The main difference is that the Indian rhinoceros is the crown of the average body height of the rhinoceros family, weighing less than the white rhinoceros and more than the Javan rhinoceros; the Indian rhinoceros body is covered with small rivet-like nodules, the interface is extremely unfriendly, and the Javan rhino is slightly smoother.
Picture (7) Hippopotamus, taken at Qingdao Xiaozhu Mountain Wildlife Park
Rhinos are named after cows because they are large and horned, but they belong to the order Odd-hoofed, which is more closely related to horses that are also members of the order Odd-Hoofed, which is the meaning of "Rhinoceros is a Horse" in the title. Hippos are just the opposite, there is "horse" in the name, but it belongs to the order of even hooves like cattle, so it is called "hippopotamus is a cow". Nowadays, cetaceans and dolphins have returned to their ancestors, and the proto-even-hoofed order is called "whale-even-hoofed", and hippos are relatively close "relatives" of cetaceans.
Figure (8) Scalper, photographed in a village in Jimo
Many friends may have a misunderstanding that the odd hooves are collectively called ungulates, indicating that their kinship may not be too far away, I have thought so before, but this is wrong. In fact, the term ungulates refers not so much to close kinship in zoology as to ecological adaptation in several parallel evolutionary branches, a fact that must be kept in mind when used (this phrase is copied to a certain extent). The wind and horses and cattle are indeed incompatible, and it is "the ancients are sincere and do not deceive themselves."
Figure (9) Zodiac Signs
A few days ago, I saw a picture (as above, the original author is unknown), which roughly classifies the zodiac signs according to the evolutionary relationship, which can be called the best combination of science and creativity. The bottom of the figure shows that the cattle, sheep, and carnivorous dogs and tigers of the order Cetaceans are under the same small branch, and together they can be juxtaposed with the branch where the horses are located. This shows that the strange-hoofed order and the cetacean are very distantly related, and the cetacean and carnivorous order are closer.
OK, the first day of the New Year, there are so many words, and finally forced to borrow the picture "New Year": I wish you a happy New Year, the Year of the Ox!