Clara (rhinoceros)

In 1738, aged approximately one month, Clara was adopted by Jan Albert Sichterman in India after her mother was killed by Indian hunters somewhere in Assam. Sichterman was the director of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) in Bengal. She became quite tame, and was allowed to move freely around his residence. In 1740, Sichterman either sold or gave her as a gift to Douwe Mout van der Meer, captain of the Knappenhof, who returned to the Netherlands with Clara. Captain Van der Meer would become Clara's agent and companion until her death. Clara disembarked at Rotterdam on 22 July 1741 and was immediately exhibited to the public. Clara was exhibited in Antwerp and Brussels in 1743 and in Hamburg in 1744. The exhibitions were so successful that Douwe Mout van der Meer left the VOC in 1744 to tour Europe with his rhinoceros. He had a special wooden carriage built to convey her, which had at least eight horses pulling it. The carriage had only a small window in order to encourage people to pay to see her. Afterwards she visited Prague, then Warsaw, Kraków, Danzig, and Breslau (a second time) in 1754; and Copenhagen in 1755. She returned to London in 1758, where she was exhibited at the Horse and Groom in Lambeth, with entry prices of sixpence and one shilling. This was where she died on 14 April, aged about 20. ==Honours and recognitions==

In 1991, the Natuurhistorisch Museum in Rotterdam held an exhibition on Clara. In 2008 the Clara Memorial was created at the same museum to mark the 250th death anniversary of the rhinoceros. File:Clara-Wandelaar.jpg|1742 engraving by Jan Wandelaar File:Clara 1747.jpg|1747 engraving at Mannheim File:Clara 1746 Elias Baeck.jpg| Clara, the rhinoceros, that travelled throughout Europe in the mid-18th century. Engraving by Elias Baeck from 1746. File:Ca' Rezzonico - Il rinoceronte 1751 - Pietro Longhi .jpg|Painting by Pietro Longhi in Venice in 1751. One onlooker is holding her horn, rubbed off (or removed) in Rome the previous year. File:The Rhinoceros MET DP318559.jpg|Alessandro Longhi Etching (after 1751) File:Pietro Longhi Rhinoceros 1751.jpg|Rhinoceros in Venice circle of Pietro Longhi (1751) File:Achterste deel van de neushoorn Clara, RP-T-1953-359A-37-1.jpg|Rear part of the rhinoceros Clara, Circle of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo, ca. 1751 == In popular culture ==

Clara has continued to appear in cultural works since the eighteenth century. The French painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry created a life-sized portrait of her in 1749, now held by the Staatliches Museum Schwerin. She has been the subject of several books, including Glynis Ridley’s biography Clara’s Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe (2005), as well as children’s picture books such as Clara the Rhino by Katrin Hirt and Laura Fuchs, and Clara the Triumphant Rhinoceros: A True Story by Jane Kurtz, illustrated by Claire Messer. In 2024, Kansas author Jillian Forsberg’s historical novel The Rhino Keeper retold Clara’s European travels with Douwe Mout van der Meer, exploring the fascination she inspired across the continent. The novel was later recognized as a Kansas Notable Book in 2025. Clara and Van der Meer also appear in the Doctor Who audio drama The Behemoth (2017), produced by Big Finish Productions. == References ==