AnimalsThe white rhinoceros is the largest of the rhinos and has two horns. Its name has nothing to do with colour: it is grey. It has a wide, square mouth for grazing short grass. Its horn is made of keratin, the same material as fingernails.
Quick facts
- Scientific name
- Ceratotherium simum
- Group
- Mammals
- Diet
- Herbivore (eats plants)
- Lives in
- Southern and eastern Africa
- Habitat
- Grassland and savanna
- A young one is called
- calf
- A group is called
- crash
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened
How it is classified
Scientists sort living things into groups within groups. Reading down, each step is a smaller group, ending with the species itself.
- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Chordata
- Class Mammalia
- Order Perissodactyla
- Family Rhinocerotidae
- Genus Ceratotherium
- Species Ceratotherium simum
Other members of the family Rhinocerotidae on this site: Indian rhinoceros.
More distant relatives in the order Perissodactyla: donkey, horse, plains zebra.
Classification follows the GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Other reference works arrange some groups differently. How classification works.
Is it in danger?
The white rhinoceros is listed as Near Threatened. The species is not yet classed as threatened, but it is close and may become so soon.
This is the IUCN Red List category as recorded in Wikidata on 11 November 2026. The IUCN Red List itself is the authority and may carry a newer assessment. What the categories mean.