The white rhinoceros of today wasO saidrinoceronte tobranco beé likelyprobablemente descendeddescendente fromdo ''[[Ceratotherium praecox]]'' whichque livedviviu aroundhai 7 millionmillóns yearsde agoanos. Restos Remainsdeste ofrinoceronte thisforon whiteatopados rhino have been found aten [[Langebaanweg]], nearpreto de [[Cidade do Cabo - Cape Town|Cidade do Cabo]].<ref name="Skinner">The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion, J.D. Skinner and RHN Smithers. 1990. 567</ref> Porén, Aunha reviewrevisión ofdos restos [[fossilfósil]]es dos rhinosrinocerontes inde AfricaÁfrica bypor Denis Geraads hassuxire howeverque suggesteda thatespecie the species fromde Langebaanweg isé of thedo genusxénero ''Ceratotherium'', butpero notnon ''Ceratotherium praecox'' ascomo theo typeexemplar specimentipo ofde ''Ceratotherium praecox'' shoulddebe ser, inde fact, befeito '' [[Diceros praecox]]'', asxa itque showsamosa closerafinidades affinitiesestreits withco the black rhinocerosrinoceronte negro'' [[Diceros bicornis]]''.<ref name="ReferenceA">PLIOCENE RHINOCEROTIDAE (MAMMALIA) FROM HADAR AND DIKKA (LOWER AWASH, ETHIOPIA), AND REVISION OF THE ORIGIN OF MODERN AFRICAN RHINOS, Denis Geraads, 2005</ref> It has been suggested that the modern white rhino has a longer skull than ''Ceratotherium praecox'' to facilitate consumption of shorter grasses which resulted from the long term trend to drier conditions in Africa.<ref name="Turner">Evolving Eden: An Illustrated Guide to the Evolution of the African Large-Mammal Fauna, Alan Turner and Mauricio Anton. Columbia University Press (2004) ISBN 0-231-11944-5, p. 224</ref> However, if ''Ceratotherium praecox'' is in fact ''Diceros praecox'', then the shorter skull could indicate a browsing species. Teeth of fossils assigned to ''Ceratotherium'' found at [[Makapansgat]] in South Africa were analysed for [[Isotopes of carbon|carbon isotopes]] and the researchers concluded that these animals consumed more than 30% browse in their diet, suggesting that these are not the fossils of the extant ''Ceratotherium simum'' which only eats grass.<ref name="Sponheimer">M. Sponheimer, K. Reed and J.A. Lee-Thorp [http://www.colorado.edu/anthropology/faculty/sponheimer/pdfs/Sponheimeretal01.pdf Isotopic palaeoecology of Makapansgat Limeworks Perissodactyla] South African Journal of Science Vol. 97 July/August 2001 pp. 327–328</ref> It is suggested that the real lineage of the white rhino should be; ''[[Ceratotherium neumayri]]'' → ''[[Ceratotherium mauritanicum]]'' → ''C. simum'' with the Langebaanweg rhinos being ''[[Ceratotherium sp.]]'' (as yet unnamed), with black rhinos being descended from ''C. neumayri'' via ''Diceros praecox''.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> It is likely then that the ancestor of both the Black and the White rhinos was a mixed feeder, with the two lineages then specialising in browse and graze, respectively.
