Rhino Mania

Rhino Mania has taken a grip of the city and the University of Chester is ahead of the herd when it comes to spreading the conservation message.

The Faculty of Applied and Health Sciences has sponsored one of the 5ft fibreglass rhinoceros which now has pride of place at Bridge Gate, on the Chester side of the River Dee in view of the University's new Riverside campus.

The rhino has been painted by Fine Art students Samantha Quigley, Georgina Thomas, Nathan Tomlinson and Julia Elpers, with support from Biology student and project manager, Helen Cooper, and the University's rhino conservation expert, Dr Paul O'Donoghue, Biological Sciences Lecturer.

"The brief we were given was to represent a biological theme," explained Nathan.

"Our design is split into three stages to shows the anatomy of the Black Rhino. The back end will be painted like the rhino's skin, the middle section will show its muscular make up and the front section will illustrate its skeleton.

We are also going to remove the rhino's horn to get a conservation message across. The rhino is often hunted for its horn and in some areas conservationists remove the horns humanely to prevent poachers from killing them."

Dr O'Donoghue's PhD focussed on a unique group of black Rhinos in Damaraland, North West Namibia, which are the only truly free-living population left in Africa as all others exist in fenced reserves.

He said: "I think that Rhino Mania is a fantastic opportunity all round and there is huge scope for the University to do something significant to raise awareness of the conservation work that is being done to help protect the Black Rhino."

Black Rhino Students Artwork