Distribution, ecology, and conservation
The Equidae are highly specialized for a cursorial, herbivorous mode of life. They are absent from forests and other densely vegetated regions, but, apart from this limitation, the range of the group is relatively unrestricted by the type of vegetation, climate, and topography. The species replace one another geographically for the most part, and each occupies a somewhat different habitat.
Grass plays a major role in the diet; the zebras, for example, are known to feed on tall, coarse grasses avoided by most antelopes. Some species also take shrubs, herbs, and even bulbs. Water requirements vary in different species. In South Africa the plains zebra has been found to drink about once every 36 hours. By contrast, the mountain zebra (Equus zebra), Przewalski’s horse (Equus caballus przewalskii) and the half-ass, all living in semidesert areas, are reported to survive if they can drink once in three or four days. The ass too can manage with less water than the horse. The mountain zebra and Przewalski’s horse dig for water in dry riverbeds and depressions.
The mountain zebra occupies parts of the arid rocky escarpment separating the interior plateau of the southern African subcontinent from the coast lowlands. The race E. zebra hartmannae, still relatively numerous over much of its original range in Namibia and southern Angola, enjoys legal protection and is represented in game reserves. Conflict between these zebras and farm livestock for the meagre pasture of the semidesert regions, however, has led to a reduction in zebra numbers. The race E. zebra zebra was originally common in the mountain ranges of the Cape region but now survives only as a remnant of perhaps 100 animals. About one-half of these have sanctuary in a national park.
The plains zebra (E. quagga) formerly inhabited a great area of grassland and savanna from the Cape to South Sudan. The southernmost race (E. quagga quagga), which was only partly striped, became extinct in the 19th century. The populations of the other races have been much reduced in many places, and the range of the species has shrunk considerably. There are large populations in reserves, however, and the species is not in any immediate danger of extermination.
Grevy’s zebra (E. grevyi), which shares a narrow zone in northern Kenya with the plains zebra, is confined to sparsely wooded, semidesert plains and low hills in northern Kenya, southern and eastern Ethiopia, and western Somaliland. Its status appears to be generally satisfactory.
The true ass (Equus asinus), ancestor of the domestic donkey, is the equid of arid North Africa whose range extends south to approximately 6° N latitude. Its natural distribution probably included all habitable parts of North Africa. At present, asses are known from semidesert country extending from the east bank of the Nile (in Sudan) to the Red Sea and in parts of Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. There are also isolated pockets in the Tibesti Mountains in the Sahara and in the countries of central and western Africa. There is a great deal of uncertainty about the identity of all asses now described as “wild.” Some may be merely feral (escaped or released) donkeys, and interbreeding with feral donkeys is likely to have occurred in many, if not all, existing populations.
The wild horse
The wild horse was widely distributed in Eurasia north of the mountain chains. The Romans encountered it in Spain. Two races have survived to modern times. A gray race, known as the tarpan, was the horse of southern Russia. It became extinct in Ukraine during the mid-19th century. The endangered Przewalski’s horse (E. caballus przewalskii), a small reddish brown race (considered a species by some authors), was last seen in the wild in 1968 in the remote semidesert steppe country on the boundary between Mongolia and China. Wild horses enjoy legal protection in Mongolia and China, but nomadic pastoralists have been encroaching on previously uninhabited country and competing with the horses for pasture and the scarce water supplies.
The half-asses, races of Equus hemionus, occupied the dry belt from Mongolia through central Asia to Syria, with a northern limit at about 50° N latitude. The chigetia or kulan (E. hemionus hemionus), which was formerly widespread over an immense region of the Gobi, now occurs only in semidesert steppe country in central Mongolia. Hunting and competition for water by pastoral tribesmen are responsible for its decline. The kulan is slightly smaller than the kiang (E. hemionus kiang), which is found on the cold arid steppes of Nepal, Sikkim, and western Tibet at altitudes of 4,270 metres (14,000 feet) and more. The kiang is now said to be rare but not endangered. The Persian onager (E. hemionus onager) lives in a lower semidesert or desert environment, with a range that formerly included northeastern Iran, northwestern Afghanistan, and Russian Turkestan. It is now extremely rare and unlikely to survive outside northeastern Iran and the Badkhyz Reserve in Turkmeniya. A small nucleus has sanctuary in the semidesert salt plains of the Kavir Protected Region in Iran. The Indian wild ass is a closely related, probably identical, form sometimes distinguished as the race E. hemionus khur. A fairly small population occupies salt flats in the Rann of Kutch, a remnant of the thousands found there at the end of World War II. The Syrian onager (E. hemionus hemippus) is the smallest member of the group and stands about one metre (three feet) at the shoulder. It was once found in the desert region of Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, and was domesticated by the ancient Sumerians before the introduction of the domestic horse into Mesopotamia. This race may survive in the Djezireh Desert, Syria, or north of the Syrian-Turkish border; if so, the number must be extremely small.
The two African species of rhinoceroses are the black or prehensile-lipped rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) and the white or square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). The terms black and white are misleading, since both species are grayish to brownish, but the names are well established in common usage.
The black rhinoceros was originally widespread from the Cape to southwestern Angola and throughout eastern Africa as far as Somalia, parts of Ethiopia, and Sudan. Its range also extended westward through the northern savanna zone to Lake Chad, northern Cameroon, northern Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and possibly Guinea. The animal was extremely numerous in some parts. It now occupies a much smaller area, within which it is found in scattered pockets, many of them in parks and reserves. The species still occurs in Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, and Swaziland. South Africa and Namibia have more black rhinos than other countries, but the future of the animals outside parks and reserves is far from secure. The decline in numbers is largely the result of expanding human settlement and of poaching to obtain the horns, which fetch high prices.
The black rhinoceros occupies a variety of habitats, frequenting open plains, sparse thorn scrub, savannas, thickets, and dry forests, as well as mountain forests and moorlands at high altitudes. It is a selective browser, and grass plays a minor role in its diet. Succulent plants, such as euphorbias, assume great importance in dry habitats, and the animals appear to be able to survive without free water where these plants are abundant. Where water is available, drinking is regular and frequent; the animals also may dig for water in dry riverbeds.
The much larger white rhinoceros is a grazing species with a broad square muzzle. It prefers short grasses 7 to 10 cm (about 3 to 4 inches) high. The animal makes much use of shade trees for resting and is dependent on surface water. The range of the white rhinoceros is markedly discontinuous. South of the Zambezi River it was once extremely common over a fairly large area of bushveld. It has since become confined to the game reserves in South Africa, where the population has risen; some of the animals have been redistributed to several other parks and reserves in Southern Africa.
A northern race formerly inhabited South Sudan and adjacent areas of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, extending westward into the Central African Republic. It has also been much reduced and is considered probably extinct in those countries. A small number were moved to a private reserve in Kenya.
The smallest of the three Asian rhinoceroses (also the smallest living member of the family) is the Sumatran, or Asiatic, two-horned rhinoceros, Didermocerus (or Dicerorhinus) sumatrensis, standing 1 to 1.5 metres (3 to 5 feet) at the shoulder. It was originally found in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas, mainland Southeast Asia, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Small isolated populations still occur in a few widely separated localities in (Myanmar) Burma, Thailand, West (Peninsular) Malaysia, Sumatra, and East Malaysia (Sabah) and possibly in other nearby territories. The total population is thought to number between 100 and 170. Some of the survivors in Sumatra are protected in reserves.
Both the Sumatran and Javan rhinoceroses inhabit forests as well as marshy areas and regions of thick bush and bamboo, climbing actively in mountainous country. They are mainly browsers. The Javan, or lesser one-horned, rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) occupied the islands of Java, Borneo, and Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and a region extending northward through Myanmar into Assam and eastern Bengal. It is now restricted to the Udjung-Kulon Reserve in western Java, where there are at least 25 and perhaps as many as 50 to 60 animals.
The great Indian, or one-horned, rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) is more or less equivalent in size to the square-lipped rhinoceros and is distinguishable from the smaller Javan rhinoceros by the presence of a large horn, tubercles on its skin, and a different arrangement of skin folds. It previously occupied an extensive range across northern India and Nepal from Assam in the east to the Indus valley in the west. It is found in a range of habitats—open grassland, savanna, forests, and hilly country—and appears to be mainly a grazer, raiding grain fields in some areas. Hunting and the pressure of expanding human populations have greatly reduced both the range and numbers of this animal. It is now found almost entirely in eight reserves or sanctuaries in India, notably the Kaziranga Sanctuary in Assam (estimated population 300) and in the Rapti valley region of the Nepal Tarai. The total population is estimated at about 600 animals, and the prospects for survival appear to be reasonably good.
The Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), largest member of the family Tapiridae, is found in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, as far north as the Myanmar-Thailand border in latitude 18° N. It is found from sea level to high altitudes and occupies forests and thickets but may feed in more open areas. It is still abundant and widespread.
The three New World species occupy distinct, nonoverlapping but contiguous ranges. The mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque), the smallest and most primitive, inhabits the temperate-zone forests and bordering grasslands of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador and in northern Peru, up to altitudes of nearly 4,600 metres (about 15,000 feet). Agricultural and pastoral expansion resulted in some decline in the status of this species, but it is still fairly common. The Central American, or Baird’s, tapir (T. bairdii) is the largest of the American species. It is essentially Middle American, with a range extending from Mexico into coastal Ecuador, and it occupies undisturbed climax rainforest. It is shy and adjusts poorly to the disturbance caused by settlement. This disturbance, together with the destruction of habitat accompanying human occupation, has greatly reduced its range and numbers. The species is said to be much in need of active conservation. The most widespread species is the Brazilian tapir (T. terrestris), which is found throughout the Brazilian subregion east of the Andes and in a small area west of the Andes in northwestern Venezuela and northern Colombia. Like the other species, it is largely a forest form requiring the proximity of water. The three New World tapirs are mainly browsers and are remarkably similar in habits.
Expression and communication
The Equidae communicate by means of calls and changes in facial expression. Six different sounds are made by the plains zebra. A whinny, consisting of a series of two- or three-syllabic “ha” sounds, serves to maintain contact between members of a group. The repertoire includes an alarm call (“i-ha”), an alarm snort, a drawn-out snort of satisfaction, and a squeal of pain and fear. Other species utter similar sounds, the whinny of the horse and the bray of the ass being well-known examples. Characteristic facial expressions have been described for greeting ceremonies (mouth open, ears up), threat (mouth open, ears back), and submission (mouth open, nibbling movements, ears down). In all species studied except the horse, females assume a particular expression (“mating face”) when permitting the male to mount.
In the rhinoceroses and tapirs, snorting, squealing, bellowing, and, in some forms, whistling sounds play a major role in communication. Visual signals are not well developed in these nonsocial animals, but a few facial expressions are used.
The Perissodactyla are mainly grazers or browsers. The quality and quantity of grasses available to grazing species may vary considerably with the season and the area. The animals may accordingly move great distances to reach attractive sources of food. Migrations of plains zebras to succulent pastures during the rainy season are a feature of the Serengeti Plains and the Etosha National Park in Africa. The distribution of asses, half-asses, and horses inhabiting arid areas largely follows that of rainfall and pasture.
The food of the browsers is fairly readily available throughout the year; thus, species in this category are relatively sedentary. The browsing rhinoceroses may break down trees and shrubs, and use their forelimbs to help get at otherwise inaccessible leaves and twigs. Food is plucked with the lips. In the tapirs, the upper lip is fused with the short proboscis. The rhinoceroses (excluding the white) have a pointed upper lip with a fingerlike process that is used to pluck leaves and twigs. The white rhinoceros, with its broad square muzzle, is the most specialized grazing rhinoceros, feeding on grass.
Social organization and territory
In both the mountain and plains zebras the family group is the basic social unit. It generally consists of a single adult male and two or three adult females with their foals. The groups are stable, apparently because of strong mutual ties among the females rather than because of herding by the male. The stallion is dominant, and there is a hierarchy among the mares, the highest ranking (alpha) animal usually leading the group. Other males are either solitary or live in bachelor groups of two or three, sometimes up to 10. Juveniles leave the family group when they attain sexual maturity at one and one-half to two years. When large aggregations occur on favoured grazing grounds, the groups retain their identity. Among Grevy’s zebras and wild asses, territorial males and groups of mares and foals and of stallions are found. There is no evidence for territorial behaviour among any of the zebras except Grevy’s. Individual groups occupy home ranges that overlap to some degree with those of other groups.
The social organization of other equids is not as well documented. Observers studying the wild horse and half-asses have noted that females and juveniles form a group dominated by a single stallion, which keeps them together by active herding; the unattached males are solitary or live in small herds.
The pattern of social organization among the rhinoceroses is quite different from that of the Equidae. Dominant adult males of the white rhinoceros occupy territories that, in the KwaZulu-Natal reserves, average about 200 hectares (500 acres). Within its area a male may tolerate subadult or aged bulls, which have subordinate status. Adult females accompanied by their calves inhabit home ranges encompassing the territories of six or seven dominant bulls. Juveniles consort with other juveniles or with calfless females, but groups of more than two usually do not stay together long.
The black rhinoceros is basically solitary. Adults of both sexes usually occupy home ranges of 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) or more, the size depending on the characteristics of the environment; occasionally the ranges may be as small as 200 hectares, however. There is a good deal of overlap in the utilization of these home ranges.
The Asiatic rhinoceroses also are essentially solitary, but detailed information on the nature of the areas they inhabit is not available. Individual great Indian rhinoceroses are said to occupy tracts as small as 8 to 20 hectares (20 to 50 acres).
Little is known about the social organization or territorial behaviour of the tapirs. All species are reported to be found alone or in pairs.
Male zebras and horses follow mares in estrus. The stallion, after smelling the spot where a mare has urinated or defecated, exhibits “flehmen” (a characteristic display in which the head is lifted and the upper lip raised) and then urinates or defecates on the same spot. In similar fashion, members of stallion groups often urinate or defecate consecutively; communal dung heaps formed by five to eight animals often arise in this way. The significance of such behaviour is not clear.
Among the Rhinocerotidae excretory products play an important role in marking territories and home ranges. Dominant male white rhinoceroses defecate almost entirely on heaps within their territories. They then scatter the material by kicking vigorously, presumably leaving an individual scent mark in this manner. In addition, they urinate in a ritualized fashion, spraying the urine in powerful jets in a manner peculiar to them and shown by no other sex or age group. Other members of the population also use dung heaps (either in territories or in communal areas, such as along paths) but not exclusively, and they do not scatter dung.
In the black rhinoceros, dung-scattering behaviour does not appear to be exclusive to dominant males. The function of the communal heaps may be mainly to establish the presence of the inhabitant in his home range, and to maintain contact between known animals.
Dung heaps and urine spraying are also observed among other species of rhinoceroses and among tapirs; their significance is presumably of a similar nature.
The pattern of fighting is related to the amount of lethal equipment the various groups possess. The Equidae, unarmoured, do not employ stylized fighting techniques to reduce the danger of serious injury—as among certain other species. Fighting is largely confined to adult males competing for estrous mares. Various techniques occur in the zebras, which may serve as an example of the family. Circling, neck fighting, biting (either in a standing or sitting position), rearing combined with biting and kicking, and kicking on the run all are used, either alone or in combination. No set pattern is followed.
Fights among rhinoceroses consist of charges and striking with the horns, usually accompanied by vocal threats. Goring is not common, the stylized pattern having probably been evolved to minimize the danger of serious injury from the formidable horns.
Mutual grooming is well known among horses. Two animals stand facing in opposite directions and groom each other by nibbling at the root of the tail and the base of the neck. The plains zebra behaves similarly and so, presumably, do other members of the family.
Zebras greet each other simply by nose-to-nose contact, except that adult stallions go through a ceremony involving nose-to-genital contact. Nose-to-nose greeting is also characteristic of tapirs and rhinoceroses. The latter also rub their bodies together.
Courtship and mating
Courtship is relatively simple among the social equids. The true ass is apparently exceptional. The partners are strangers when the first approaches are made and the female requires violent subjugation by the male, which bites, kicks, and chases her before she will stand for him. This may be the result of separation of the sexes outside the mating season. The wild horse and the plains zebra are not at all violent. The stallion often grooms the mare before attempting to mount. The estrous mare (especially, or exclusively, young mares in the case of the plains zebra) adopts a typical posture with legs slightly apart, tail lifted, and, except in the horse, a characteristic facial expression (the “mating face” already mentioned).
The more or less solitary rhinoceroses and tapirs go through a more elaborate courtship, presumably because the partners are strangers. After a chase, the male and female may engage in low-intensity fighting, ending with the male laying his head on the female’s rump and then mounting and copulating for an extended period. Several males may mate with an estrous female.
Relations between parent and offspring
The perissodactyls bear well-developed (precocial) young, usually a single offspring. After the mother has assisted in removing the placenta and has licked her offspring in the usual mammalian fashion, the young animal soon attempts to stand. A plains zebra foal has been observed to stand quite firmly 14 minutes after birth, and a black rhinoceros calf 25 minutes after birth.
Newly born equids follow any nearby object during the first few days of life. At this time, zebra mares drive away all other zebras from their foals. The behaviour ensures that the foal will form a bond with its mother during the initial period of imprinting. Foals follow their mothers closely and are groomed frequently.
Although precocial, black rhinoceros calves appear to have a lying-out period; that is, an initial period when they rest quietly in thick cover except when being suckled. Thereafter they follow their mothers closely. A young white rhinoceros tends to walk ahead of the mother and may be guided by her horn.
Most young perissodactyls remain with their mothers until the next offspring is born. A young rhinoceros may, therefore, accompany its mother until it is two and one-half years old or older. Although grazing starts early, suckling proceeds for a considerable time, perhaps for its psychological rather than its physiological value.
As in other mammals, play is a prominent form of behaviour among young perissodactyls. Zebras up to the age of one year frequently engage in running games. Foals gallop wildly about on their own, jumping and kicking up their heels, sometimes chasing other animals, such as gazelles, mongooses, or birds. In groups they play catching games, running after one another in close succession. Mock fighting sometimes takes place. Groups of adults have also been seen to chase foal groups in play, and indeed stallion groups carry out playful gallops. Stallions also engage in play greeting and in mock fights.
Playful romping and mock fighting with the horns are common among rhinoceros calves. Young tapirs play running games.
Rolling and wallowing
Behaviour for the care of the body is widespread among the perissodactyls. Equids frequently roll in dry, loose soil forming rolling hollows—a common feature of zebra country.
Wallowing, which may help regulate body temperature, probably is mainly a form of self-grooming; it is practiced by all species of rhinoceroses. They often spend hours lying in pools during the middle of the day in hot weather. Mud of suitable consistency induces wallowing, which may be followed by sand bathing. Prolonged rubbing on tree trunks or suitable stumps follows a wallow; old rubbing stumps and stones may take on a shine from repeated use.
Tapirs may have the most pronounced tendency to bathe and wallow, but few details of their behaviour are known. They are also said to enter water when disturbed.
Female equids of all the species for which information is available attain puberty at about one year, but are not normally successfully mated before the age of two to two and one-half years, and possibly as late as three to four years in the case of Grevy’s zebra. Zebras probably breed until about 20 years of age. The domestic species are seasonally polyestrous (repeatedly fertile), coming into breeding condition in spring and, unless mated, undergoing repeated estrous cycles at intervals of approximately three weeks until the end of the summer. The wild species studied also tend to mate seasonally; most young are born in spring and summer.
The gestation period of equids is between 11 and 12 months. In most species a postpartum estrus occurs, usually within two weeks of the birth of the young; thus, the maximal potential reproductive rate is one young per year. This potential is not always attained. Only about 50 percent of domestic mares that are mated produce foals, and nearly half of a study group of plains zebra mares bore only one foal in three years.
The gestation period of three species of rhinoceroses is about 15 to 17 months. For the Sumatran rhinoceros the period is said to be only seven months. No information is available for the Javan rhinoceros. Female white and black rhinoceroses attain sexual maturity at the age of four to five years and are capable of calving at intervals of approximately 2 1/2 years. Rhinoceroses probably breed until between 30 and 40 years old. The white tends to have a mating peak in spring, corresponding with the flush of green grass, and a calving peak in autumn.
The Malayan and Brazilian tapirs have gestation periods of 13 months’ duration. The Brazilian tapir is reported to mate before the onset of the rainy season.