Not only people can be stars, but also animals. For example, rhinos. And we will talk about the famous female rhinoceros, whose name was Clara. With her "performances" she has traveled almost all over Europe. Few tourists can boast of such an achievement.
For a long time, only travelers knew about the existence of rhinos in Europe. The rest of the inhabitants of the Old World were content with stories and sketches. They could only imagine strange animals in their fantasies.
For the first time, they wanted to demonstrate a rhino to Europeans back in 1515. The Portuguese planned to do this. They took the animal to Lisbon. However, then a storm began and the ship, along with the crew and an outlandish passenger, sank. The travelers never made it to Rome.
To make people understand what rhinos look like, artists tried to depict the animal on paper. They did it according to stories from travelers. For several years, the inhabitants of Europe could only see rhinos in pictures.
They tried to show the animals to the residents several more times. But all attempts were unsuccessful. Some died from unknown diseases, others were killed because of their too violent nature.
The history of the famous rhino
In 1741, another attempt was successful. In July, the story of the famous rhinoceros named Clara began. The animal was transported from India to Holland. Clara, by her appearance alone, caused a huge stir. For several centuries, Europe plunged into "rhino mania".
Clara's story began sadly enough. Her mother was killed while hunting. The owner of the trading company took the little rhino. But after a couple of months, the house for Klara became too cramped. Therefore, it was decided to sell it. The new owner of the animal was the captain of the Dutch ship Van der Meer.
To show the beast to the Europeans, he traveled a long and arduous journey from India to Holland. For the first time, Clara the rhino was shown to people in Rotterdam. The demonstration of the animal was a huge success. Therefore, Van der Meer decided to take a ride with Klara through the cities of Europe.
It was very difficult to transport the animal, which weighs about 2 tons. In addition, there was a risk that the rhino would die due to illness. Therefore, the captain tried to provide Klara with everything necessary for a comfortable journey. To do this, a huge team of 165 people had to be hired.
The captain of the ship took into account all the mistakes of the past travelers who "killed" their animals. He had a veterinarian on his team who monitored Clara's health. The rhinoceros were fed only fresh food. There was no physical violence against the beast. Clara was transported only in a covered cart.
Throughout her life, Clara has visited Holland, the Roman Empire, the Commonwealth, Switzerland, France, Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, England. In addition, he visited the rhino and small settlements. In all cities, countries and villages, Clara caused a huge stir.
The most famous rhinoceros died in 1758 of old age. It is unknown if he was happy. But Clara's life was definitely interesting and eventful.
