After Dark: What Nighttime Rhino Behaviour Can Teach Us About Welfare

Rhinos are often perceived as solitary creatures, largely based on decades of field studies conducted during the daylight hours. But recent research is challenging this long-standing view revealing that when the sun sets, rhinos engage in surprising and socially rich behaviours that may hold important implications for how we care for them in managed settings.

At Animal Welfare Expertise, we find these new insights into rhino behavior both fascinating and deeply relevant to welfare science.

Day vs. Night: A Tale of Two Rhinos

During the daytime, rhinos tend to be more solitary. This behaviour is likely influenced by heat stress and the need to conserve energy. In hot environments, they often seek out shade or water and minimse social interactions to avoid competition or aggression. Given that most behavioural studies historically focused on daylight hours, it’s no wonder rhinos were long assumed to be largely asocial.

However, as technology like night-vision cameras and GPS tracking has expanded our ability to observe animals around the clock, a different picture has emerged.

Nighttime: A Hidden Social World

After dark, rhino behaviour transforms. Cooler temperatures and reduced human presence appear to encourage:

• Increased activity and exploration

• More frequent and varied social interactions

• Formation of temporary social groups, particularly around waterholes or shared grazing sites

These nocturnal gatherings are likely driven by resource optimization and may serve to reinforce social tolerance or cohesion within populations. Interestingly, the cover of darkness also appears to reduce aggressive encounters, perhaps because lower visibility and milder conditions promote calmer interactions.

This behavioural shift highlights a critical welfare insight: we may be missing much of the social lives of rhinos simply by focusing our observations—and management—on daytime behaviour alone.

Implications for Zoo-Based Welfare

In many zoos and safari parks, rhinos (and other hoofstock) are traditionally housed separately at night, especially indoors. While this practice is often rooted in safety or logistical ease, these new findings suggest that restricting overnight social access may be counterproductive to welfare goals.

Rhinos’ natural inclination to socialise at night points to the importance of:

• Allowing overnight access to shared spaces, where appropriate

• Designing indoor housing that facilitates visual, olfactory, or tactile contact

• Reconsidering social separation policies, particularly for compatible individuals or established groups

Just as we recognise the importance of choice, agency, and social opportunity during the day, the same principles apply after dark.

Rethinking Welfare Around the Clock

Welfare isn’t a 9-to-5 concern. As we deepen our understanding of species-specific behaviour across the full 24-hour cycle, we are better equipped to design environments, routines, and management practices that reflect the true rhythms of animal life.

The evolving research on rhino nocturnal behaviour serves as a powerful reminder that animal welfare is as much about when as it is about how. As always, applying this knowledge with care and context is key to meaningful change.