A special feature of the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) is the presence of an abundant ‘mega-grazer’ in the form of the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). The study of this species in HiP (Owen-Smith, 1974) led to the identification of common features shared by white rhinos with other extremely large herbivores and hence to the recognition that these ‘megaherbivores’ constitute a distinct life form (Owen-Smith, 1988, 2013a). Defined strictly, the label ‘megaherbivore’ encompasses terrestrial mammals exceeding one metric tonne (i.e., a mega-gram) in adult body mass. The distinguishing ecological and life-history features of these megaherbivores include (1) invulnerability to non-human predation in the adult stage; (2) birth interval exceeding 1 year; (3) maximum rate of population growth typically less than 10% per year; (4) dominance of large herbivore biomass; (5) dietary tolerance for plant structural fibre; and (6) capacity to transform vegetation structure.
