Friday, October 05, 2012

Let us not forget! (From Paul Gutheil)


 The Sumatran Hairy Rhino, Bronx Zoo around 2004. As I recall her
name was Rapunzel. I would guess that if asked , Richard Reynolds would
tell us that none of her species traveled avec Cirque. My question , any
Indian Rhinos ever travel with a show within the past 50 years or so?
Oh, and Yes, she is reddish in color.

Posted by Buckles at 10/05/2012 05:26:00 AM

2 comments:

Richard Reynolds said...

All of the species of rhino have been taken around by American circuses except for the Javan rhino but then there has never been a living Javan in USA anywhere.

There are only about 50 Javans left alive in the entire world, all in a game preserve on the western tip of Java. Some 20 years ago, a small population of maybe a dozen were found to be still living in Viet Nam but the last of those was killed by poachers in 2010.

Back in the 19th century both Indian rhinos and Sumatran rhinos were shown by circuses more or less regularly, but since 1900, only a single Indian has been in a circus.

That was “Old Bill’ of the F-S;RB;B&B; and RBBB shows. He died at Ft Worth TX with RBBB in 1926.

As for Sumatrans, RB got one for its 1903 season from the Bronx zoo which could not adequately house it at the time. It was with the show until about 1908. That was the last circus Sumatran. In fact it was the last Sumatran anywhere in USA until the consortium of zoos brought in number of them in the 1980s, one of which was Bronx female Rapunzel.

Interestingly, the now quite common white rhino was never seen with a circus anywhere until the Swiss Circus Knie got two of them in 1966. In America whites started turning up on shows around 1980.


05 October, 2012 19:54
Anonymous said...

Fascinating, Richard thank you so much. Your comments here are things I could never hope to discover left to my own devices.
As with your good self, Messrs Herriott, Woodcock , Silber and many others we Circus and animal incognoscenti can only express our gratitude and the hope that you are all recording either on paper, video and/or audio tape your vast wealth of knowledge and experiences so it will survive for future generations. Buckles' Blog is, of course, one huge step in that direction.

Many, Many Thanks, Paul

05 October, 2012 23:26

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