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RE: The last male Northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) in the world is serious ill, and could die very soon, leaving no males of this subspecies alive

in #nature7 years ago

I used to wonder why they were called white rhinos if they weren't white. It turns out that white is actually being used here as a synonym for "wide" because it was a wide mouth

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Hehe, yeah, it's really funny how they got their name! When it was first described the dutch translation for "wide" was misinterpreted for "white", and now they are stuck with the wrong name.