Rhinos-Learning by Seeing

I devoured the rhinos with my eyes and camera. I was like a blind person, wanting to feel them all over, to try to figure out what I had in front of me.

A rare look at the udder of a female, lounging briefly on her side. She wasn't nursing.

This one was.

Sun through the sparse hairs of a rhino tail.

A moment of repose, resting a head so heavy. I wonder if they wish they were impala sometimes.

The great folds of skin and fat, the scooped hollow ear. All warm and soft where things have to bend and move; armored and hard where they don't. But warm all over, like sun-heated concrete.

So much bone in that massive head, protecting the brain. The horn, for defense, surely, but also to part the thorn scrub where they live, to let them through.

Rhinos are huge, powerful, but with almost unimaginable gentleness for a beast so weighty. I still marvel that they can be trusted with our eggshell skulls and frail hands, but they just seem to know that we are breakable. 

Would that we had been so considerate of them.

The rhino's horn, which is made of fused hair, has long been thought to have medicinal properties; powdered down, it was the Viagra of the early 20th century. In addition, ceremonial sword hilts, much in demand in the Middle East, were carved from rhino horn (mostly that of black rhinos). In South Africa, southern white rhinos have been terribly persecuted by farmers and trophy hunters. They very nearly vanished by the beginning of the 20th century--down to less than 200 animals. 

Concerted efforts to breed them in captivity and protect the remaining animals (anyone else remember the National Geographic photos of rhinos, each with its own personal armed guard?) allowed them to rebound. The world population now stands around 14,530. There are now more individual southern whites than there are individuals of all other rhino species combined.

Poachers still take them, and almost all of them live in South Africa in parks and game reserves. They're vulnerable, any way you look at it. 

I enjoyed seeing them in the wild in 1994. At Hluhluwe Reserve in South Africa, I remember seeing a huge female with a very long, thin horn. "That's The Witch," my guide, Peter Lawson, told us. "She's infamous for damaging vehicles." And indeed, this female ambled toward our vehicle, intending to scratch her huge bottom on its side, thoroughly scratching its paint and denting it. Peter sped out of the way.

I loved knowing that she could do whatever she wanted, ambling up to unsuspecting drivers, charming them with her proximity, then wrecking their paint jobs. And there wasn't a darn thing they could do about it, either. The Witch was Endangered, and she seemed to know it.

Smile for the camera, sweet rhino boy.

Now a nice profile. 

I don't need to tell you to be gentle with my babies. You know how to do that. 

Rhino Rodeo

We're at the rhino barn at The Wilds near Cumberland, Ohio.

Three-month old southern white rhino Anan wanted to show how sporty she is, how fast she accelerates.

Anan moves out at a smart trot. Rhino feet are so soft and springy they look like they're wearing bedroom slippers full of Flubber.

If the 40 degree weather bothered them, they didn't show it. They seemed to love the sun.

When I visited South Africa in August, it dropped into the 20's each night. Yes, it gets cold there! But their winter quarters at The Wilds are well-lit and very warm. 

I couldn't get enough of this little rhino child.

I did let myself think about what might happen if I got between a wild mother rhino and her child.

You wouldn't want to do that. Mother Zenzele, not to be outdone by her charming child, banked sharply and charged right at us, obviously enjoying the way we all leapt back as she swerved at the last minute. "This," one of the keepers said, "is why we keep them behind four-inch steel bars."

I marvel each time I visit The Wilds that here in southeast Ohio, not even an hour from my home, endangered animals are being wonderfully cared for, multiplying

acting as insurance for wild populations, reservoirs of precious genetic material

the most precious coin of conservation's realm. 

Baby White Rhino

The kids come along. They play in the snow and suffer the cold, because they know there are huge rewards for good kids at The Wilds. 

Although there are no monkeys at The Wilds,  Phoebe is wearing her monkey hat just for the occasion. I love this picture. Sasquatch Takes Five.

Phoebe and Liam team up with an adorable little guy named Evan and off they go, doing what kids do on grassy hills.

 They build a little snowman, and my camera captures the moment it topples over. Oops! Pushed too hard on the last tooth.

So Liam and Evan build another one, and give him an oakleaf rooster comb.

We are here for the rhinos. We climb on a hand-painted school bus that reeks faintly of rhino and head down to the barns.

We are here especially to see Anan, a three-month old southern white rhino.  She's the fourth white rhino born at the facility. And even better, she is the daughter of Zenzele, who was also born at The Wilds six years earlier! She weighed about 100 pounds at birth, but she was gaining rapidly.

 This photo doesn't look like much, but as it was taken I was planting a kiss on Anan's velvety nose, mmm mmm mmm.

 Such a little peanut head. The Wilds has a wonderful record of rhino births--eleven to date--seven southern whites and four one-horned Asian rhinos. The animals have 160 acres to graze on, and enough individuals to form a viable social structure. 

We adjourned to the outside, where we got some more rhino lore from a keeper. 

 This photo of Zenzele rolling reminds me of something from Fantasia, with elephants in tutus. Such a lusciously rounded lady she is! Her nice pink udder looks like a bikini bottom.

 I love rhino 'tocks.

More Anan anon.

The Wilds in Winter

Dawn on our road. The kids and I are headed out to The Wilds!

 Each January, we take part in the Ohio Ornithological Society's field trip to The Wilds, a 14 square mile reclaimed strip mine that is now billed as the World's Largest Conservation Facility. Sometimes we help guide the groups, and sometimes we just hang out. Usually it's a mix. Everybody helps everybody else find things. That's what makes it fun.

Birders' cars gathered in the parking lot on International Road, January 2011.

photo by Phoebe Linnea Thompson

We hope it won't be freezing cold, but it usually is. There's nothing to stop the wind, and it's always about 20 degrees colder there than it is at home. But there are rough-legged hawks, short-eared owls, eagles, foxes, coyotes, and any number of birds we can't see at home. And there are other birdwatchers, friends of ours, and it's always fun to be out with them.

American bison grazing, The Wilds, January 2011

 And there are some rather awesome perks to this trip.

The Wilds' staff has spoiled us terribly. Last year, they let us into the southern white rhino's winter barn, and this year, they raised the bar by letting us into the Asian one-horned rhino barn and the giraffe barn as well as the white rhino barn. Oh, my. If you want to make Science Chimps very, very happy, just let them into animal barns where they can fondle the hoofed stock.

I got a lot of very cool photos last year, because it was a warm and balmy day, nudging into the upper 30's, with lovely sun. I kept meaning to post them, but spring rolled around and I got seduced by the moment. Sometimes I save the best stuff until it's almost spoiled.

We waited, listening to the rhino keeper talk about his charges. My inner Chimp was jumping up and down, hooting. I was about to see a rhino up close!

Bill of the Birds got his pats in.

I discovered very quickly where the southern white rhino's sweet spot is. It's the incredibly soft, warm fold between his massive abdomen and his hind leg. Why, that's Chet Baker's sweet spot, too. I was using dog knowhow on rhinos, which turns out to be a good strategy. I commenced to scratching in there and the huge animal leaned toward me, holding his leg out, in rhino nirvana.

Well, it was a commensal relationship because it made me happy, too. At one point the rhino fell almost over, he was leaning so hard and holding that near hind leg up. My hand got kind of gooshed between the rhino and the four-inch steel bar that holds the animals in. I was OK. I'm sure the rhino was very sorry.

Southern white rhinos are very, very sweet animals.

I sorry, Miss Thighscratcher Woman. I know I am fat and heavy and you are small. Is your hand OK?

Southern white rhinos are soulful and serene and their eyes are wise. In personality, from my limited experience, I would place them somewhere between a very nice horse and a dog. They're more into being petted than horses are, which moves them toward doglike.

I so wanted to climb into the pen with them, but even with a raging case of rhino fever I knew that would be a dumb thing to do.

Needless to say, Phoebe and Liam were enchanted by these enormous, puppylike beasts, especially when one sat down on his haunches. What a sight.

Just huge.