Mounted skin, skeleton. Collected by: Zoo Frankfurt, 1909. In coll. Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Mounted skin, skeleton. Collected by: Zoo Frankfurt, 1909. In coll. Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Present in Nepal in good numbers only to be hunted by the Maharajah.
The colour of the animals looks darker in the wild as it is in reality. The Indian rhino is light grey [hellgrau], the african yellowish brown. But the mud makes it look darker.
The hide of the Indian rhino looks like an armour, divided in shileds by enormous folds. As the skin is relatively thin in these folds, the hide can move in these areas. The hide of each shield is gain modelled in an extremely detailed way by netshaped drawings and small polygonal fields which are a little elevated.
The temperament of the animal is never kind. It can never be trusted, and although it looks indefensive when sleeping, it is quite brutal in the attack.
One shown in Antwerp.
Female Rhinoceros unicornis euthanized in Frankfurt Zoo on 24 Aug 1909. Immediately after the death of the animal, it was put on its side and we began with the sculpturing in plaster. That was hard work. To make a model of one side of the animal was sufficient. Due to the animal's size, this could only be done in pieces, and we had to pay special attention to the modelling of the folds. At last we had the pieces together with the number of their order. Now we finished the measurements, the animal was 3,25 m long and 1,68 m high. The second stage was the removal of the skin, and this had to be done quickly to ensure that the skin was safe by evening due to the warm weather and the possibility of changes by the pressure of the heavy animal. All went well, except when we came to the head, the removal of the skin at the spot where the horn is attached it became difficult. We therefore detached the entire head from the body. In the museum, the skin was soaked in water to remove all dirt and dust, and we still took casts of the muscles of the front and hind legs, shoulder and hoofs. After this also the bones were cleaned and the entire skeleton was taken to the museum. In the museum we had started with the preparation of the skin. The skin had to be moved with chains and ropes as it was 15 zentner in weight. To get as much as possible the original form, we had to cut off any part of the underside of the skin to make it as thin as possible to allow salt and Alaun to enter the skin and to preserve it from rotting. Otherwise we also would be unable to put the skin on the plaster model later. It took three weeks and we cut off about 9 Zentner of this total. Formerly the skins were filled, but now we try to make it look as naturalistic as possible. This is only possible to make a cast of the animal as much as possible resembling the living animal and then to put the skin on this cast. It took us seven months for the entire process but the result was quite good.
The animals are good mothers and to obain a young one, the mother must first be killed. That is the only way to get one for a zoo, as with the animal's great strength, it is impossible to catch and transport any but the young animals. As it is not easy to raise the young and the distance from capture to the coast is long, the price for these animals is very high.
Female Rhinoceros unicornis in Frankfurt Zoo on 24 Aug 1909 euthanized with injection of 2 gr of Skopolamin.
These animals are usually on their own, only together with another during oestrous.
The colour of the animals looks darker in the wild as it is in reality. The Indian rhino is light grey [hellgrau], the african yellowish brown. But the mud makes it look darker.
The hide of the Indian rhino looks like an armour, divided in shileds by enormous folds. As the skin is relatively thin in these folds, the hide can move in these areas. The hide of each shield is gain modelled in an extremely detailed way by netshaped drawings and small polygonal fields which are a little elevated.
They usually sleep by day, and they use the hours of the night and early morning to look for food after taking a mudbath.
Female in Berlin and Frankfurt, 19 Sep 1872 - 24 Aug 1909. Male in Berlin, 19 Sep 1872 - 7 Sep 1909. Total longevity maximum 40 years.
Mud bath is taken to protect it from bloodsuckers.
Height at shoulder 1,33 m, female in Berlin Zoo, 1872 . At death in 1909 (Frankfurt Zoo) this same animal was 1,68 m high.
Length of body 2,80 m - female in Berlin Zoo ca. 1872. At death in 1909 (Frankfurt Zoo) the animal was 3,25 m long.
Rhinoceros unicornis seen for first time in 61 BC in the shows of Pompejus
Female in Frankfurt Zoo in winter 1907/1908 showed bleeding from reproductve organs and the situation deteriorated. Animal was euthanized in 1909. Post mortem revealed that the uterus had a large abscess, and the whole organ had a weight of one Zentner. There was also a Fibromyom of the Uterus and a wound in the uterus wall. However, the animal was also quite old and this may have been the main reason of death.
One shown in London.
The specimen in Seckenberg is a female which came to Berlin together with a male on 19 Sep 1872. The animals did not breed and the female was sold to the zoo in Frankfurt on 10 April 1896. It got sick (bleeding from the reproductive organs) in the winter of 1907/1908. It was therefore euthanised by injecyion of 2 gr Skopolamin in a few minutes on 24 Aug 1909. The male died fourteen days later in Berlin.
The specimen in Senckenberg is a female which came to Berlin together with a male on 19 Sep 1872. The animals did not breed and the female was sold to the zoo in Frankfurt on 10 April 1896. It got sick (bleeding from the reproductive organs) in the winter of 1907/1908. It was therefore euthanised by injection of 2 gr Skopolamin in a few minutes on 24 Aug 1909.
In 1503 an Indian rhino came to Portugal, drawn by D?rer who only knew it from a drawing himself.
