Wall color:
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The Greater One-horned Rhinoceros is native to the Indian Subcontinent. It once ranged across the entire northern part, along the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra River basins, from Pakistan to the Indian-Myanmar border, including Bangladesh and the southern parts of Nepal and Bhutan.
The most important habitat of the alluvial Terai-Duar savanna grasslands and riverine forest, is in decline due to human and livestock encroachment. Poaching, mainly for the use of the horn in traditional Chinese medicine, has led to several population declines.
In this painting I wanted to show this magnificent animal by focusing on the texture of its thick grey-brown skin with pinkish skin folds and the accompanying ‘tick birds.’ Egrets and various species of ‘tick birds’, including Jungle Mynah, ride on its back and feed on parasites from between the folds of the rhino’s skin.
