Northern White Rhinoceros

The Northern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is a large African ungulate. It is an adoptable animal in Zoo Tycoon (Xbox)

Description[]

White rhinos are the 3rd largest terrestrial animal, behind only the African and Asian elephants. Generally, northern white rhinos are slightly smaller than their southern cousins. Northern white rhinos have two horns made out of keratin, the same stuff as your fingernails and hair. The front horn is larger than the back, averaging 24 in. (60 cm). Males usually posses shorter, wider horns while females have thinner, longer horns. Rhinos have very poor eyesight, and this can cause them to charge in fear despite a lack of a threat. To make up for their poor eyesight, rhinos have very good hearing and smell, with their olfactory passages being even bigger than their brain.

Males are larger than females, weighing about 3527 pounds (~1,600 kg) and 3086 lbs. (~1,400 kg) respectably. The Shoulder height for Males is between 5.30 ft. (1.61 m) and 6.00 ft. (1.82 m), while females are between 5.00 ft. (1.52 m) and 5.50 ft. (1.68 m). The combined head and body length for male rhino's ranges from 11.00 ft. (3.40 m) to 13.8 ft. (4.2 m), and females range from 10.00 ft. (3.00 m) to 12.00 ft. (3.66 m). The tail is about 28 in. (70 cm) long.

While a northern white rhino’s horns are arguably its most recognizable feature, these defensive tools are also, ironically, the main reason the rhinos have been hunted into functional extinction. Rhino horns are used for a variety of things, such as sheaths for Yemeni daggers, signs of power for royalty, and ingredients for Asian medicines (any medicinal value has yet to be proven, as rhino horn is made out of the same material as fingernails and hair, as previously mentioned). To this day, Vietnam has the largest illegal market for rhino horns. Even in zoos, it is not uncommon to see rhino horns shaved off to devalue the animal, and protect it from poachers.

Zoo Tycoon (Xbox)[]

The Northern white rhinoceros is an adoptable animal in the Xbox version of Zoo Tycoon and is available in the base game.

The northern white rhinoceros is unlocked by achieving a zoo fame level of 18. It prefers to live in the Savannah exhibit, but can also tolerate grasslands. It prefers to live with other rhinos, elephants, giraffes, and antelopes.

Trivia[]

As of March 2018, there are only two northern white rhinos left in the world, a mother-daughter pair named Najin and Fatu. The last known male, Sudan, died on the fourteenth of March 2018, at the age of 45.
Despite the fact that only around 7 individual northern white rhinos were alive at the time of the game's release, with no evidence of other individuals in the wild, Zoo Tycoon lists the northern white rhinoceros as “Critically Endangered“ rather than “Extinct in the Wild."
Contrary to real life, the male northern white rhinoceros has a longer and more narrow horn than the female, who has a shorter and thicker horn like a male rhino.