Let's Talk About Rhinos

There are some things on which I consider myself to be something of an expert. In no particular order, those things include, but of course, are not limited to:

- Hot Chocolate
- Coffeehouse Drinks
- Growing basil
- The 1960's
- The film Casablanca
- J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
- Fishtail Braids
- How to Tell Sassafras Trees Apart from Other Trees
- Semi-colons
- The Difference between Port and Starboard
- Disney's Animal Kingdom's White Rhinoceros Population
- Homemade Black Bean Burgers
- Basic Knitting
- The A, G, C, D, and F Chords on the Ukulele
- Yoga for Stress Relief

so when I was informed that I have an interview and need a three to five minute presentation for an audience of two to four people, I quickly narrowed it down to those topics. My mind raced. Could I really make a three minute presentation on semi-colons that would captivate an audience of four?

No. Semi-colons are too simple for that. You heard me; they are simple. See what I did there? I used a semi-colon-- correctly, I might add. To use a semi-colon correctly, you have to know if your two clauses (statements) can stand on their own as a sentence and if the thoughts are relatively connected. For example,
Semi-colons are shockingly simple to use; I have even seen non-native English speakers use them correctly.
would be a correct use. Just make sure you don't include words like, however, and, but, and or after the semi-colon (no matter what Microsoft Word tries to tell you).

Mildly entertaining? Maybe. Entertaining for three minutes? Not really. I quickly moved on...

Black bean burgers? I'd have to bring in samples. And sadly, my burgers are boyfriend-approved but not mass-approved, so that wouldn't be a good choice.

Catcher in the Rye? As much as I love Holden Caulfield, I know that much of the human population finds him whiny. Well, forget them; they're phonies anyway. (Holden Caulfield AND semi-colons. wha-BAM!)

Rhinos? Not only do I convince every one of my trainees that rhinos are worth saving and loving, but I can also recognize the white rhinos apart from each other. Most people can't do that, but I taught myself how with a few simple tricks.

And just like that, I had a presentation. Granted, I am practically the worst at interviews and presentations. This will be the third time I try for this job, and I tend to shake and tear up during even the "best" interviews. So practice has to happen. The pictures, by the way, were all taken by me while out on safari. For animal safety reasons, their names will not be included.

For practice for you all, let's figure out how to recognize black and white rhinos. There are certainly several similarities between the two species of African rhinos. Male and female African rhinos both have two horns that will grow continually during their lifetimes. Sadly, their horns are the reason why they are poached. There are fewer than 5,000 black rhinos in the world today and somewhere around 20,000 white rhinos. Rhinos have three toes on each foot. They have excellent senses of smell and hearing, but poor eyesight considering they have tiny eyes on either side of their head. Both species can also reach top speeds of about 35 miles per hour and can gallop (they can run with all four feet off the ground at the same time. I don't know about you, but I think that's amazing.). Black and white rhinos also wallow in mud to protect themselves from insects and sunburn. It also helps them keep cool in the hot African sun.

This is a black rhinoceros. Black rhinos are generally loners. They live in forested areas when possible, weigh about 3000 pounds tops, and have pointy upper lips. These upper lips are prehensile (can really move anywhere the muscles will let them. Think about your fingers moving independently or a spider monkey's tail being used as an extra appendage). They use these lips to grab tree branches. Black rhinos have a more slender build than white rhinos, so when they walk, it is almost like they tiptoe or walk with one foot directly behind the other. After looking at the pictures, you may also notice that isn't much a difference in color between white and black rhinos, either.

Below are some of the white rhinos. They can weight up to about 5,000 pounds. Notice their mouth structure. They have broad, wide mouths. In fact, that's how they got their name. The original Dutch Afrikaans settlers noticed that the rhinos living in the savanna together were wider in general-- especially their mouths. They ate grasses from the ground just like cows and horses. So they were wit or wide rhinos. When the English arrived, they mispronounced it. And no one likes to correct the reigning group of settlers, so there you have it.





The rhinos above are a mother and baby pair. You can tell it's the mother because of her WICKED LONG HORN! It's curved back toward her back. The baby is easy to tell apart from the others simply because he's so small. This was taken about a year after he was born, so he's a lot bigger now, but his horns are still small and rounded down. Rhino horn grows about three to six inches a year on average because their horns are made out of the exact same stuff that makes up our hair and finger nails. It's a densely packed protein fiber called keratin. Baby's horn still hasn't had much of a chance to grow in yet.

This rhino to the right is another adult female. She's honestly one of my favorites. Her horn is straight. The other white rhinos' horns are curved back a lot more than hers. Also, look at her ears. Even in the picture, if you look carefully, you can see how ridiculously fluffy her ears are.

Now that you know a little bit about the rhinos, see if you can tell the differences. I have included another picture of one of the white rhinos, so see if you can recognize which one it is.

That's a basic rundown of my presentation. Considering there are seven white rhinos to go through, it will take longer to go through all of them. Hope you learned a little something, and thank you for letting me practice!