THROUGHOUT July and September, Chester will be in the grip of Rhino Mania and the University of Chester will be joining the stampede.
From next month a colourful trail of beasts will be dotted around the city as part of Rhino Mania and, with help from four fine art students and the university’s rhino conservation expert, the institution is heading up the charge to support this campaign.
The faculty of applied and health sciences has sponsored one of the 3ft fibreglass rhinoceros replicas which is currently being 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 biological sciences lecturer Dr Paul O’Donoghue.
“The brief we were given was to represent a biological theme,” explained Nathan.
“Our design is split into three stages to show 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.
In April he headed back out to Namibia for two-and-a-half weeks to carry on his work in genetic management of the Damaraland rhino population which will ensure the long-term viability of the herd.
While he was there he worked with Save the Rhino Trust and The Ministry of Environment to firm up plans for student trips to Namibia which he hopes to set up from 2011.