A male rhino in Greater Kruger clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed on the morning of 16 October 2024, when it started picking fights with a herd of elephants, and one park ranger, at the watering hole.
Tervin Mdluli, a safari professional, took his guests to the watering hole to see the elephants, whose tracks they’d been following. The rambunctious rhino was an added bonus, and its behavior even more so, as it set about charging at the much larger animals.
One of the younger elephants was not willing to be scared away so easily, and accepted the rhino’s challenge. Having two of the largest land animals in a direct face off resulted in a lot of tension.
Rhinoceros Victorious
Despite the elephant having a clear size advantage, it wasn’t a fully grown bull and was the first to balk in the contest. Taking a step back meant it had lost, and it retreated into the nearby brush, allowing the victorious rhino to own the road.
While rhinoceros do have poor eyesight, the image of multiple elephants on his road was too much for this one to deal with, and he couldn’t rest until he’d cleared his space of the larger animals. As this was a breeding herd of elephants, it meant that there were no bulls for their protection, only females and their calves.
To see the rhino so focused on clearing the road was clearly an amusing sight, with many in the vehicles laughing at its self-appointed task. One of the park rangers laughed along with the rest, but the rhino turned its head ominously in the background.
Target Locked
It’s clear that the rhino didn’t appreciate the sound of laughter coming from behind its back, and it quickly pinpointed the source. Now that it had seen off the elephant menace, it was clearly time for it to do something about the people nearby.
Luckily for our ranger, the rhino gave up its chase almost immediately after the car started moving away, meaning it was likely a mock charge meant to intimidate rather than harm. Either way, it wasn’t quite as funny when the car was hurriedly backing away.
Facing a Charging Rhino
There are several animals, such as elephants and bears, that use mock or fake charges as a way to try and gauge the threat posed by other animals, and scare them away. If the threat backs away, like the elephant did, then the rhino knows that it’s in control because the other animal is afraid, but if the threat doesn’t flee then the rhino know’s it’s got a fight on its hands.
It’s not always easy to know when an animal is mock charging, so the best way to deal with a charging rhino is to not antagonize it at all, they have poor eyesight and rely on their sense of smell. Avoid getting too close and stay downwind so it can’t smell you, and it’s unlikely the rhino will notice you, or even feel the need to charge in the first place.