Black Rhino
Hello and welcome to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. My name is _________ and I am super excited to talk
with you about how strength, intelligence, and social savvy help out the black rhino.
This is my friend Klyde our 9 year old black rhino. Today we are going to talk about how rhinos have the physical
strength of a bulldozer, the smarts of a witty teenager trying to get more allowance, and the ability to update their
“Facebook status” every time they use “the little rhino’s room”.
Strength
How do you think being so large, up to 3,500 lbs, helps a rhino survive in the wild?
Klyde here is super, super strong and he has a few favorite toys that show off his strength! Can everyone see that log
over there? Raise your hands if you think that you could lift, push, or move that log just a little bit? Let’s see some
hands! If your family or friends were helping you lift it, how many of you would it take? That log right there weighs
150lbs and Klyde here moves it around like it’s the weight of a cotton ball! Rhinos like Klyde have VERY strong muscles
in their neck and can toss that log around all day long. Let me see your muscles! (flex).
Intelligence
It takes more then just size and strength to survive; the black rhino also relies on its smarts.
How smart do you think Klyde is? Do you think you can teach him to open his mouth? What about lift his leg? How
smart are rhinos?? Well Klyde is going to show you! We use a technique called Operant Conditioning to encourage and
reward our animals for doing certain behaviors. This is a way we can have them mimic actions they might do in the
wild, get a check up if they have a toothache, and keep them healthy and safe here at the Zoo! (may need to ad-lib
while Klyde run’s through his behaviors)
Kylde’s behaviors in order:
1. Target -to anywhere I cue him with the tennis ball target
2. Over -he knows to move his body over close toward the posts to be checked out thoughly
3. Steady -he knows to stay still while I am checking him out
4. Foot -he will present his foot on a wood block for me to check it. This will be a NEW behavior for chats, BUT
will need to be phased in gradually.
5. Mouth- knows to open his mouth and show me his teeth, tongue etc
6. Lip - he points his lip up and over toward the people for them to see the prehensile lip
7. Targeting from point “A” to “B” and back– he walks from the rhino working area to the cave at his building and
back to the working area again (staff permitting)
Social
Okay, so we’ve talked about brains and brawn. Now let’s talk about the social aspect of survival. Imagine how tough it
might be for a rhino to make friends in the big wide open savannah. If you were a rhino, how would you do it? (take
responses from audience)
Normally solitary animals, rhinos have a very interesting way of being social. They talk to each other by writing on the
restroom wall, sort of. Rhinos use the same places, in each area, to use the restroom and end up making large dung
piles called “Middens”.
Imagine that you are a female rhino looking for a mate. You might go up to a midden and leave a little scent message
there in your dung. A male might swing by later to update his Facebook status, and notice that you sent him a
message! He then follows your scent trail to track you down and ask you out on a date.
Leaving smelly messages behind is also how males warn other males to stay out of their way without having to
have an actual fight!
Oh...and when it comes to rhino relationships, it is always “complicated!”
Rhinos make friends outside of their own species, too. There is a bird, called a “tickbird”, that sits on the rhino’s back
and eats the ticks off of the rhino. It is a win-win relationship that works very well for the rhino and the bird....and is
the best security alarm anyone could ask for! If the bird senses danger, it makes a loud squawk to give the rhino a
heads up! How about that? Pretty cool right?
Hopefully you have learned something about how strong, smart, and social these beautiful creatures really are! You
might be asking yourself if there is anything that you can do to help out the black rhino and other African animals.
We, at the Zoo, are leading a Saving Species campaign to collect and recycle cell phones. Recycling cell phones
limits the amount of a mineral called coltan used in them that is mined in the African wild where black rhinos live. You
can help by bringing your old cell phones to the Zoo and recycling them here! You can help us save animals by taking
action right here in your own backyard.
I’ll hang out here for a few minutes, if you have any questions for me. Thank you for coming to the Zoo today and AM
CHAT; suggest the 11:30 Polar Bear talk (7 days). PM CHAT; suggest the 3o’clock bird show (memorial day-labor day not
mon/tues)
Does anyone have any questions?
Outline
Title: Black Rhino: Brain vs. Brawn
Theme: Black rhino’s are intelligent and powerful
Introduction: yourself and the animal
Sub-themes:
Strength:
1. The physical strengths of the rhino
2. log toy and comparison-poll the audience
Intelligence:
1. Rhino’s are smart
2. Operant Conditioning training
3. Why we train our animals
4. Back up “train the CHAT person” activity
Social:
1. Survival
2. “Middens” and leaving messages
3. How they find or stay away from each other
4. Tickbird, alarm system, symbiotic relationship
Conservation message:
1. Saving Species
2. Cell phone recycling
Wrap-up:
1. Thank you
2. Questions
3. don’t miss…..