A year ago, tour guide Rocco Talia landed a front-row seat to a black rhino brawl. The battling behemoths – one with a clear size-advantage – were filmed squaring off beside a waterhole in Namibia's Etosha National Park.
While it's rare to witness a rhino fight, these grey lumps of muscle do occasionally tussle over territory and fights can sometimes escalate to lethal levels. This battle began slowly. The larger of the two rhinos edged towards his rival before eventually launching an all-out attack, which would almost certainly have been more severe had the attacking animal not had its horn removed (likely as an anti-poaching measure).
After enduring a pretty harrowing attack, the smaller rhino eventually got the chance to make its escape, dashing into the bush surrounding the waterhole. It's unclear exactly what prompted the clash. White rhinos are usually less aggressive than their black cousins, but fights among males are not uncommon in both species. It's possible that this was a fight over territory.
According to Rob Jeffery, a field guide in South Africa's Londolozi Private Game Reserve, rhino bulls establish their territories near waterholes to allow them easy access to this vital resource. Dominant bulls are known to be quite serious about protecting their turf – including any females that might be grazing within it. Usually, the animas are relatively tolerant of one another and confrontations stop at horn-butting and false charges. But it's possible that these two brawlers met in no-man's land or that the younger rhino was trying to take up residence in an area already dominated by another bull.
Top header image: Paolo Lucciola, Flickr
Predator vs Prey
Animal Behaviour
In The Field
