Visiting With Bull

I was at the Royal Ontario Museum today for a talk led by the managing director of the BioDiversity program, introducing one of their new exhibits - the skeleton of Doni, a kimodo dragon who used to live at the Toronto Zoo whose remains were donated to the museum.

While I was waiting for the talk to begin, I spent a few minutes sketching Bull, the white rhino that stands at the entrance to the BioDiversity exhibit on the 2nd floor.

Here's how my sketch turned out:

Coloured with gouache

You can see how Bull came to be at the ROM on this video:

One of the interesting things I learned today was that while white rhinos were previously an endangered species, they have been protected for the past hundred years or so and their numbers improved to such an extent that they were taken off the endangered list. Unfortunately, they are now at risk again, as poachers are killing them for their horns, which are believed by some to be an aphrodisiac.  In reality, their horns are made of keratin, the same material that our fingernails and hair are made of, which has no such magical power.