Re: Why are rhinos in the wild known to stomp out fires?

Why do rhinos stomp out fires? This reminds me of a pair of similar questions:
"Why do ducks have flat feet?"
...........Answer: To help stomp out forest fires.
"Why do rhinos have flat feet?"
..........Answer: To help stomp out flaming ducks.



I'm not a rhino expert, and am not "up" on the latest rhino literature, but 
thinking of animal behavior in general, I have a hard time believing in 
Smokey the rhino. Behavioral traits will only survive if they help an 
animal (or its genes) to survive - thus allowing the trait to be passed 
onto offspring. Even altruistic behavior (where one animal seems to 
sacrifice itself for the good of others), is still basically selfish. 
Altrusim is generally found in large animal groups where individuals are 
closely related. Thus, even if you sacrifice yourself, many of your genes 
still live on in others - including the genes that were ultimately 
responsible for your altruistic behavior - and so altrusim will remain in 
the population.

Rhinos don't live in large family groups, so it's unlikely that many 
individuals sharing genes will benefit from fire stomping - which would 
certainly put the stomper at risk of injury! Plus, rhinos can run very 
fast, so a better response to a fire threat would simply be to run away. 

Now, rhinos will charge people to defend themselves, their territory, their 
calves. 

   And a campfire is a sure advertisement that "a human being is 
here!". So, perhaps rhinos sometimes charge people at campfires, trampling 
the flames in the process. 

The Mad Scientist Gurus suggest a  neat rhino scorce to check out:

  
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ebooks/records/7479.html