A black rhinoceros grasps vegetation with a narrow, pointed upper lip. Its upper lip is narrower than a white rhino’s.
It has two horns on the nose. Its brownish-gray skin is similar in color to a white rhino’s.
Red-billed oxpeckers sometimes perch on black rhinos. When the birds give alarm calls, rhinos may raise their heads or stand and become vigilant. A bird’s call can alert its much larger neighbour.
In South Africa’s Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in 2008–2009, researchers made 86 approaches to 11 adult females. Rhinos detected all 38 approaches when birds were present, at a mean distance of about 61 metres. Without birds, they detected 11 of 48 approaches, at a mean distance of about 27 metres.
After the alarm, rhinos usually faced downwind rather than toward the person approaching from the side. The authors interpret the call as indicating proximity rather than direction, with rhinos directing vigilance toward their downwind sensory blind spot.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
IUCN reported an estimated 6,788 black rhinos at the end of 2024. Its August 2025 report also documented black-rhino poaching deaths at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi early in 2025, where anti-poaching efforts continue.