The Indian Rhinoceros is an animal armour-plated; Though it eats just tons of grass, its hunger’s never sated; But still the appearance of one is, by us, eagerly awaited, As on elephant-back we sit with our breath bated!

No, that was not Ogden Nash or Edward Lear, that was just de Ponti!

Here’s the One-Horned Indian Rhinoceros (no, it doesn’t toot that horn.)

The wiki entry that you get if you click on the name of the animal above, says, “Mynahs and egrets both eat invertebrates from the rhino’s skin .” So I got a nice pic with mynah and an egret for my discerning viewers! :)

I posted this picture of a rhino that, indeed, looks as it it’s got all its makeup on….

So

A rhino needs about a kilo of mascara each time: And with those hooves, obviously, the rhino cannot apply it neatly! The lips are carefully tinted, and the pancake foundation on the face has to be two-tone, the dentist, of course, can't get within yards of the teeth for fear of his life: But in spite of all this care, very often, the unfortunate tendency of the rhinoceros to take offence at every trifle, leads to its losing a lot of its natural beauty. Our guide said that this particularly bad-tempered animal was dubbed Mike Tyson (though Evander Holyfield would have been the technically correct name)..but when I looked at the missing ear and "nose", I personally called her (it was a she, as we soon saw her going off in the grass, and then calling to her calf to follow her in a video that follows) .... Soorpanakha ! Apart from the front of the rhino, the back..er..side also commands attention: Armour-plated or not, a baby rhino is a cutie...here's one, disappearing into the grass as her mother impatiently calls: That view- block is caused by our guide's shawl, as he got in the way... (Through the tour, he seemed more interested in borrowing KM's camera and taking shots...sometimes even forgetting to tell us what he was aiming at!) Oh my goodness, imagine giving birth to a baby rhino....not a job that a mother rhino would ever look forward to. Seriously, I wonder if those plates are soft at the time of birth? The wiki doesn't say... Here's Soorpanakha, holding up three safari jeeps while she explores some dung on the safari path: That's what I call dung-in-cheek behaviour... I must tell you that KM has taken some great photos of mating rhinos, with certain, ahem, other parts of their bodies showing clearly...if and when I ever get those photographs, I will add them to this post...but meanwhile, here's a video that show you just how far away they really were. Mr is quite interested, but has to follow his Mrs, who seems more intent on getting away....I am sure she is saying, "Not tonight, dear, I have a headache!"

Here are some tourists, photographing the rhino from elephant-back:

Here’s how visitors photodocument the rhino…jumbo fashion!

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Did you think rhinos weren’t true sportsmen? They are, you know…

That was the All India Games Village, on the Shillong-Guwahati road…

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