Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 5
There in the
Elephant Grass
O
N AN AUSPICIOUS DAY IN
A
PRIL
1974, circled by court astrologers, Nepal's royal family
gathered for a coronation ceremony in the capital, Kathmandu. In a palace chamber, Brahmin
priests wrapped Crown Prince Birendra in gauze and then enveloped him in the skin of a male
greater one-horned rhinoceros. The disguised monarch-to-be entered the throne room to chant-
ing and the burning of incense. In choreographed motions, he began shaking the rhino's meter-
long penis at his kin; then he repeated the dance ritual. Witnesses were few, but the perform-
ance evidently won celestial approval. The gods were praised, the royal family duly felicitated.
Birendra stepped out of the skin suit; the kingdom was his for the taking.
Among traditional cultures, many rare species are believed to bestow special powers on
those who eat them or wear their body parts. The rhinoceroses fall into this category; they have
intrigued humans East and West for centuries and have been the subject of mythology, awe,
and terrible persecution for their horn. For the West, rhino expert and wildlife historian Kees
Rookmaaker explained the origins of this allure. “The Western world became acquainted with
the rhinoceros in 1515 from Albrecht Dürer's anatomically inaccurate woodcut. It was drafted
from notes and a sketch of a captive greater one-horned rhinoceros brought to Portugal from
India.” Because the subject was large, dangerous, and rare, the woodcut attracted wide atten-
tion; it also reawakened the legend of the unicorn.
Known to science as
Rhinoceros unicornis
, the greater one-horned rhino bears little re-
semblance to the magical horned horse of fairy tales. This is a mammalian titan, more tank
than prancer, a massive beast covered in what resembles armor held together with welds
(skin folds) and rivets (tubercles). The greater one-horned rhino stands two meters tall at the
shoulder and is the fifth-largest land mammal on Earth. Its horn is not technically a horn but
rather densely compacted hair fibers pressed into a pointed cone. Whatever it is called, the pro-
