Woolly Rhinoceros
Basic Information
Anatomy
Woolly rhinoceros are warm-blooded quadrupedal vertebrates who initially evolved in the Danuinfel Tundra. They are megafauna; they can easily weigh several tons. An adult's body is typically twelve to fourteen feet in length from snout to tail, equivalent to a pair of Falcon's Rangers end to end. A healthy adult's maximum height will be around 6 to 7 feet, fluctuating with the season as they add layers of insulating fat over the summer. Their bodies are stocky, with short legs and a wide stance that makes them highly resistant to being knocked prone by most potential attackers. The region between their forward shoulders and their neck is usually the highest point on their bodies as well as the point of greatest overall girth -- it adds momentum to the rhino's slamming capacity when they charge, plus cushioning resistance to the neck and heart if a heavy blow comes at the rhino in turn.
Woolly rhinoceros have thick, long fur similar to a bison, elk, or dire wolf. The fur may come in almost as many different shades of brown as do the bark colors of different trees, ranging from a dark walnut through golden maple to the light golden ruddy texture of ponderosa pines. Some individual woolly rhinos might even have a spotted pattern different colors similar to the tobiano pattern in horses.
Its skull is elongated, slanting downward to put the mouth close to the base of the plants it eats. It grows a massive keratin horn on the end of its snout which will be at least three feet long, barring significant trauma, and a smaller (and less curved) keratin horn centered between the eyes.
Ecology and Habitats
Woolly rhinoceros prefer relatively flat grasslands due to their short legs and dietary preferences, but comparatively cool temperatures. Occasionally individuals or small herds may be encountered on the Longgrass Plains. Rangers in the region mobilize search efforts to find, treat, and hopefully relocate rhinos if a summer heatwave strikes for more than two sequential days.
needs a strong "are they grateful? They are NOT!" type quote here
Dietary Needs and Habits
Herbivores
Woolly rhinoceros in the wild eat massive amounts of grass or sedge through spring and summer. As autumn sets in, they transition to eating shrubs and the occasional willow or beech branches. In winter, they will dig for any wintering plant or lichen they can find.
Semi-domesticated rhinos will supposedly follow a favored person around like dangerous puppies for treats that might include apples, carrots, or even loosely-tied coils of brambles.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
The Orisnuc of KaraKorum are said to have some cordial (or, at least, less than adversarial) interactions with the sparse herds of Woolly Rhinoceros dotting some areas of the Longgrass Plains. Sheared rhinos fare better in warm temperatures than do their ungroomed peers. Meanwhile, the Orisnuc have developed several uses for the textile they call "mfîhwûdah".
Geographic Origin and Distribution
cool grass plains, especially high plateaus
- Danuinfel Tundra
- Longgrass Plains (sometimes)
- Murdan Grasslands
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
A woolly rhinoceros has proportionally tiny eyes set safely off to either side and bison-like ears attuned to low-pitched infrasound hearing ranges. While the rhino probably cannot see a stationary object in front of it at all, and not one to the side unless it is within range of an instant charge, many stories tell of a woolly rhinoceros reacting to sounds which their sapient observers could not detect -- sometimes traced to the actions of other rhinos more than a day's travel away, other times correlating to an impending avalanche or approaching severe thunderstorm.
Its strongest perceptory sense is smell. Woolly rhinos can detect a small tuft of grass or patch of moss under two feet of day-old snow. They can identify individual scent markers in three-year-old dung from another herd. They can be taught tolerance for a specific small community of people in a region, and will extend that tolerance to close relatives of the original group.
Unless someone in the tolerated group does something to offend a woolly rhinoceros.
Such as:
- attempt to interfere with a meal
- attempt any physical interaction not customary to grooming
- spend more than five minutes of time handling, much less wearing, items made from dragonscale or Danuinfel silver pine (oddly, the scent of the Danuinfel chipmunk that usually lives in those short pine trees is not a problem)
- carry a scent or make a sound resembling a unicorn in any way
While the hostility to unicorn sign is generally considered reasonable in a herbivore species, the instinctive prejudice against one sentient species and one completely unconnected plant are more difficult to explain. Regardless of the origin, however, the offended rhinoceros becomes violently hostile against the offender and all of the offender's blood relations within at least three generations -- possibly more. Some Orisnuc sauri have legends of a historically strong alliance that had to be terminated because someone in the ally group so offended a mfisha herd that the former allies were pursued at trampling speeds for months.
(The story is never of one's own ancestors offending the mfisha in question!)
Lifespan
40 years
Conservation Status
Rare
Most cultures in current times have never seen anything rhinoceros-like at all, since they are now a rare species that keep to high plateaus. Any story about a shaggy horned creature with the girth of a bison is probably about a moose or elk which has dropped or broken one of its antlers.
Average Height
6 to 7 feet at the withers
Average Weight
3.5 tons | 3200 kg
Average Length
12 to 14 feet
Records of the exact origin for Woolly Rhinoceros, much less how they became distributed to some less-than-expected regions of Elohey, have mostly been forgotten. Woolly Rhinos are actually from the Murdan Grasslands -- a region near a coastline northeast of the Dragonscale Mountains plus the desert valley beyond them. Their diaspora was caused by the draconic civilization which kept herds of rhinos as cattle. Their hostility to the scents of dragonscale and a specific breed of pine resin are ALSO legacies of this origin!
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