10 things to know about Clara the rhinoceros

Clara was just a month old when hunters captured her in what is now the Indian state of Assam, in 1738. The hunters killed her mother. This was the start of her life among humans, and she never saw another rhinoceros again.

Clara was given as a gift to the local director of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the Hooghly district of West Bengal. He kept this unusual pet to entertain the guests – until she grew too big to be roaming around the dining hall. That’s when VOC captain Douwe Mout took Clara home with him to the Netherlands.

This drawing shows Clara when she was about three years old. The horns of rhinoceros calves don’t grow in the first years of their life. This species is known as the Indian rhino. One of the ways to identify it is that it’s only got one horn – African rhinos have two.

Clara’s owner Captain Mout made advertisements to get people to come and see Clara. His posters point out the great size and weight of this natural wonder. They also describe how much she eats and drinks every day: no fewer than 30kg of hay, 10kg of bread and 14 buckets of water!

The painter Lünenschloss made a sketch of Clara at the marketplace in Würzburg, Germany. His caption refers to her affectionately as ‘Miss Clara’. This is almost the only recorded example of this name being used during her lifetime.

Clara was a sensation wherever she went, even in the sophisticated city of Paris. It was there that Oudry made a life-size painting of Clara. She looks so real, it’s almost like you could reach out and touch her – she’s as tall here as the visitors who came to see her. This picture shows Clara when she was 11 years old, 3.6m long and 1.7m tall. She weighed more than 2,500kg.

Captain Mout had a special wagon made – with big, strong wheels – so he could transport Clara. He needed eight horses to pull the wagon. Nobody was allowed to see Clara while she was being transported, because if you wanted to see her, you had to buy ticket.

In 1742, Clara came to Leiden in the Netherlands. A zoology student named Petrus Camper visited her regularly to look at her. He fed her carrots from his hand, and opened her mouth. He was particularly fascinated by her characteristic overhanging upper lip.

Wherever Clara went, people would measure, touch and talk about her. Artists tried to understand her by drawing her, no matter whether she was sleeping or eating. Some artists sketched her full-length, while others captured only details. People were fascinated by every aspect of Clara.

Everybody was crazy about Clara. If you had plenty of money, in Paris you could buy a clock with Clara standing on a music box. She’s pricking up her ears, because the clock might strike sometime soon! Even many years after her death, Clara was the prime example of a rhinoceros for artists.