White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum)
The white rhinoceros’s digestive strategy is similar
to that of a domestic horse, which has a hindgut
fermentation chamber that allows the animal to gain
energy by microbial fermentation of fibrous material
caudal to the gastric stomach.
All hindgut fermenters are classified as monogastric
animals, i.e. an animal with a small, single-chambered
stomach.
The average weight of mature rhino bulls is 2 100kg;
the cows being 1 650kg on average.
The white rhinoceros is almost exclusively a grazer.
Herbaceous plants form approximately 4% of their
total diet with grass making up the difference. Similar
to the hippopotamus, the rhinoceros can also utilise
short grass and can graze at ground level. They
prefer short grass, which they grip with their wide lips
in a similar manner to the hippopotamus and tear off
before chewing.
Step-by-step process
When a rhino eats grass it grinds it as fine as possible
with its premolars and molars. This finer paste forms
into a bolus (small, round ball of chewed food), which
gets swallowed and enters the gastric stomach, with
the assistance of saliva. In the stomach and small Figure 3: Gastrointestinal tract of the white rhino. Illustration by Ronelle Oosthuizen
management | nutrition 101
HINDGUT FERMENTER
White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum).
Photo © Jonathan Pledger