White Rhinoceros on the open grassland, Garamba National Park, Congo (Democratic Republic)

The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist and is one of the few megafauna species left. It is the world's most massive extant land animal after the elephants. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The White Rhino is the most common of all rhinos and consists of two subspecies: the Southern White Rhino, with an estimated 17,480 wild-living animals at the end of 2007 (IUCN 2008), and the much rarer Northern White Rhino. White Rhinoceros are found in grassland and savannah habitat. Herbivore grazers that eat grass, preferring the shortest grains, the White Rhino is one of the largest pure grazers. Regularly it drinks twice a day if water is available, but if conditions get dry it can live four or five days without water. White Rhinos, like all species of rhino, love wallowing in mudholes to cool down. White rhinos can produce sounds which include a panting contact call, grunts and snorts during courtship, squeals of distress, and deep bellows or growls when threatened. Threat displays (in males mostly) include wiping its horn on the ground and a head-low posture with ears back, combined with snarl threats and shrieking if attacked. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignement for National Geographic Film and traveled to Africa from January 19, 1972 to mid April 1972.