More about rhinos (From Richard Flint)

Barnum & London rhino poster, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Here is one of my favorite posters showing just how far agents will go in service to Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson! The poster dates from 1881-82. For the uninitiated, there are three species of Asiatic rhinos (Indian and Javan, both one-horned, and the two-horned Sumatran). Africa has two species (the Black and the White), both with 2 horns. The rhino is a remarkable creation, one of my favorites along with the elephant, and I was very impressed a few years ago to see two of the five species at the same time in the Philadelphia zoo--the African White and the Asian Indian. Incidentally, the white gets its name not from its skin color but from the Boer word for wide, "widje," because in the Dutch language, "d" is pronounced like a "t"! The most frequently seen of all five rhino species is the one-horned Indian, first shown in 1515 and the subject of a famous print by Dürer and copied by others for centuries. The earliest captive specimens are thoroughly documented in a wonderfully illustrated book, "The Rhinoceros from Dürer to Stubbs, 1515-1799" by T.H. Clarke (1986). The first Indian headed to the US in the late 1820s died on ship but it was acquired by Rubens Peale, mounted, and then traveled to be exhibited in one of Peale's several museums. The first living example in the US was on a menagerie in 1831. The one-horned Javan is extremely rare but our friend and fellow blogger Richard Reynolds has written that the only possibility of one ever being in the US was one shipped in the 1870s to California, possibly for the Montgomery Queen show. The Sumatran, with its two seemingly worn stub-like horns, that Wayne Jackson reports seeing has certainly been very rare for the last 100 years but was actually more common in the last quarter of the 19th-century when 4-10 specimens were seen in the US. Perhaps Richard Reynolds, who authored the definitive Nov-Dec 1968 Bandwagon article on circus rhinos (which should be supplemented with Stuart Thayer's comments in his Bandwagon column for May-June 1975) can enumerate on the individual specimens, the last being on Ringling about 1900, that are candidates for the surviving skin. Of the two African species (both bi-horned), the White was once very rare in captivity but has been more frequently seen since WWII. The Black is certainly the most common today but no specimen was seen until Hagenbeck captured one and sold it to the London zoo about 1868. Hyatt Frost's Van Amburgh show claimed one in 1868 as did Pogey O'Brien in 1870 but both claims are questionable according to Reynolds. Hyatt Frost definitely acquires one in 1872 at the Edinburgh sale of Fairgrieve's menagerie (the Mrs. was a niece of George Wombwell) per Frost's letter to the manager of his farm about the show purchasing 22 cages at the sale. From Scottish newspaper sources, we know that a show employee, O.J. Ferguson, was at the sale. Frost states that his black two-horned rhino is "the first ever in America and the second ever in Europe" even though his earlier advertising made the claim for first! As a student of circus advertising (and of the early animal import/export business), I'll sooner trust Frost's personal letter to a friend! So, what was once common and what was once rare have switched their positions. With the boastful circus advertising that played fast and loose with terms (such as the "black Asiatic" once advertised by Van Amburgh) and the limited knowledge of the time, perhaps the Smithsonian staff member who received the original skin simply recorded what he was told by the donor. And if no one conducted research until Mr. Jackson's inspection, I can well imagine that the recorded error persisted for so long. Remember that the knowledge of animal species was still new when the Smithsonian received this specimen. I believe the type specimen (the individual animal that is chosen to serve as the basis for naming and describing a new species or variety) for the African elephant is Jumbo which should tell you how late it was before science accurately recorded many species! And the gorilla was not seen by western man, and thought impossible to exist given some stories about its exploits, until Paul du Chaillu brought the first specimen to London in 1861. What is exciting today, however, is Wayne Jackson reporting on his discovery of a rare animal specimen once on an early circus. If only those agents in service to Barnum could know now how much we appreciate their hard work, even if it was upsetting, stomach-wrenching work for them! Dick Flint Baltimore