However, this belief has no grounding in scientific fact.

Many people believe their horns held medicinal value, which led to heavy poaching. They inhabited much of sub-Saharan Africa. During the hottest parts of the day, they slept or wallowed. During the morning or evening, they would browse for food. Like all Black Rhinos, they were browsers, and their common diet included leafy plants and shoots around their habitat. The western black rhinoceros is one of three subspecies of the black rhinoceros to become extinct in historical times, the other two being the southern black rhinoceros and the north-eastern black rhinoceros. The population was first discovered in Southwest Chad, Central African Republic (CAR), North Cameroon, and Northeast Nigeria.

Other distinct features of the western black rhino included the square based horn, first mandibular premolar retained in the adults, simple formed crochet of the maxillary premolar, and premolars commonly possessed crista. This refers to the subspecies’ long distal limb segment, one of many special characteristics of the subspecies. The word “ longipes” is of Latin origin, combining longus (“far, long”) and pēs (“foot”). This subspecies was named Diceros bicornis longipes by Ludwig Zukowsky in 1949.

Black rhinoceros