11 November 2011

Flying rhinoceros

Video at Green Renaissance (tho it doesn't work for me).  Still image via HuffPo, where there are some explanatory details:
"Previously rhinos were either transported by lorry over very difficult tracks, or airlifted in a net. This new procedure is gentler on the darted rhino because it shortens the time it has to be kept asleep with drugs, the respiration is not as compromised as it can be in a net and it avoids the need for travel in a crate over terrible tracks," explains Dr Flamand. "Another advantage is that rhinos can be more easily removed from dangerous situations, for example if they have fallen asleep in a donga or other difficult terrain after being darted. The helicopter translocations usually take less than ten minutes, and the animals suffer no ill effect. All of the veterinarians working on the translocation agreed that this was now the method of choice for the well-being of the animals."
For the most amazing scholarly blogposts about images of the rhinoceros, see this series from one of my favorite blogs - Poemas del rio Wang:
The rhinoceros of the Pope,
Rhinoceros on the reverse,
The first litter, and
The truth suppressed.
I've been meaning to blog about those posts for over two years, but haven't found the time to do them justice.  I do still plan to write about them in the future, but for now you can have a sneak peek.

5 comments:

  1. Thank you very much for recommending the rhinoceros series! In the meantime I have collected some more material to it, so the show will go on in the near future.

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  2. My first thought after seeing the picture was this sculpture in Prague:

    http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/the-worlds-strangest-monuments/2

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  3. That's very odd, Mark. I had never seen/heard of it before. I'll do some searching and maybe blog it someday. Thanks.

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  4. I'm sure the vets know what they're doing but the entire weight of the rhino is pulling on those four ankles! How do they not get dislocated?

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  5. Mark, I researched it some more and decided not to write it up for the blog. But it is interesting.

    ReplyDelete

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