Rhinoceros pulling a plough—fact or fiction?

Authors

  • Kees Rookmaaker Editor of the Rhino Resource Centre, and Section Editor for Pachyderm

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69649/pachyderm.v61i.15

Abstract

Some stories tend to lead their own life in the media and are repeated without any idea how they came about. One instance is the tale, usually set in Assam, that rhinos could be tame enough to be used by farmers to pull ploughs in the fields (Stracey 1963:98, Dutta 1991:151, Geer 2008:383, Mazumdar and Mahanta 2016:19). Perhaps, but when did this practice change, as surely currently no rhinoceros can be seen anywhere used in this way.

Cover caption: "Tim" (1970–2020), one of the last remaining iconic "tusker" elephants in Kenya died of natural causes in Amboseli National Park in February 2020, aged 50. Tim whose tusks swept the ground was well-known and much-photographed earning significant revenue for the Kenya Wildlife Service from tourism. © Ryan Wilkie

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Published

2020-10-08

How to Cite

Rookmaaker, K. (2020). Rhinoceros pulling a plough—fact or fiction?. Pachyderm, 61, 176–178. https://doi.org/10.69649/pachyderm.v61i.15

Issue

Vol. 61 (2020): Pachyderm

Section

History