1988, Animals White Rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) 13 Bulgarian Stotinki

Animals  White Rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) 

Animals  White Rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) 13Bulgarian Stotinki 1988

Text: Animals  White Rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) 13 CT 1988

Condition: Ø = used/cancelled

Title:   100 years Sofia Zoo

Face value:     13

Stamp Currency:       Bulgarian Stotinka

Country/area:            Bulgaria

Year:   1988

Set:     1988 Dierentuin Sofia

Stamp number in set:           1

Basic colour:  Multi-coloured

Exact colour: 

Usage:            Franking

Type:   Stamp

Theme:           Animals (Fauna)

Stamp subject:           White Rhino

Michel number:         3658

Yvert number:                       

Scott number:                        

Stanley Gibbons number:    3520    

Printing office:            

Perforation:    comb 12¾

Printing:         Offset

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Animals White Rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum)

The white rhinoceros or square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhino consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhino, with an estimated 17,460 wild-living animals at the end of 2007 (IUCN 2008), and the much rarer northern white rhino. The northern subspecies has very few remaining, all in captivity.

Naming 

A popular theory of the origins of the name "white rhinoceros" is a mistranslation from Dutch to English. The English word "white" is said to have been derived by mistranslation of the Dutch word "wijd", which means "wide" in English. The word "wide" refers to the width of the rhinoceros' mouth. So early English-speaking settlers in South Africa misinterpreted the "wijd" for "white" and the rhino with the wide mouth ended up being called the white rhino and the other one, with the narrow pointed mouth, was called the Black Rhinoceros. Ironically, Dutch (and Afrikaans) later used a calque of the English word, and now also call it a white rhino. This suggests the origin of the word was before codification by Dutch writers. A review of Dutch and Afrikaans literature about the rhinoceros has failed to produce any evidence that the word wijd was ever used to describe the rhino outside of oral use. Other popular theories suggest the name comes from its wide appearance throughout Africa, its color due to wallowing in calcareous soil or bird droppings or because of the lighter colour of its horn. An alternative name for the white rhinoceros, more accurate but rarely used, is the square-lipped rhinoceros. The white rhinoceros' generic name, Ceratotherium, given by the zoologist John Edward Gray in 1868, is derived from the Greek terms keras (κερας) "horn" and therion (θηριον) "beast". Simum, is derived from the Greek term simus (σιμος), meaning "flat nosed".

Amongst the most charismatic and recognisable of Africa’s mega-fauna, the white rhinoceros is the largest of the five rhinoceros species and one of the world’s biggest land animals, second only to the African and Asian elephant in size. Unlike its common name suggests, this enormous, virtually hairless mammal is not in fact white, but slate-grey to yellowish-brown in colour. The ‘white’ likely comes from a mistranslation of the Afrikaner word for ‘wide’, referring to the animal’s wide mouth. Indeed, this species is often called the ‘square-lipped rhinoceros’ because of its broad, square, rather than pointed, flexible upper lip, differentiating it from the black rhino (Diceros bicornis). The white rhinoceros can also be distinguished from its African cousin by its longer skull, less sharply defined forehead and more pronounced shoulder hump. Like the black rhinoceros and Sumatran rhinoceros, this species has two horns, the front being longer and averaging 60 cm in length, but occasionally reaching up to a enormous 1.5 m .

Also known as        square-lipped rhinoceros, white rhino.

French                      Rhinocéros Blanc Du Nord.

Spanish                     Rinoceronte Blanco Del Norte.

Size                            Male head-and-body length: 3.7 – 4 m

Female head-and-body length: 3.4 – 3.65 m

Tail length: 70 cm

Male shoulder height: 1.7 – 1.86 m

Female shoulder height: 1.6 – 1.77 m

Male weight: 2.3 tonnes

Female weight: 1.7 tonnes