A white rhinoceros grazes with a broad mouth. Despite its name, its skin is gray.
Two horns stand on the nose, with the front horn larger. A broad, square lip is another distinctive feature.
White rhinos use communal dung middens. They lower their noses to sniff there and sometimes raise their heads and rotate their ears to check their surroundings. These middens bring together the scents of other rhinos.
A study published in 2017 investigated dung odours and male responses in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa. Researchers first collected odours from 150 different wild rhinos during 2012–2014, analysing differences associated with sex, age and territorial status.
From October 2014 to March 2015 they placed scented balls of dry grass in middens belonging to ten territorial males. With a mixture mimicking another territorial male, residents visited more frequently than under normal conditions and adopted a head-up vigilance posture sooner after starting to sniff. With a mixture mimicking an oestrous female, they sniffed for longer and also visited more frequently than usual. Male checking behaviour changed with the kind of scent placed in the same communal setting.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In September 2026 the South African government reported that poaching remained a threat to rhino conservation. A ten-year biodiversity management plan for white and black rhinos had been published that April, supporting the protection and expansion of national populations. Kruger National Park was increasing ranger and rhino-monitor capacity and strengthening protection measures. Anti-trafficking work targeted the wider criminal chain, including traders and financiers as well as poachers.