Kid Territory: Critters: Artistic Rhino

Gram gets paint Gram waits patiently while his keeper, Laura, applies paint to his lips. Today's colors are blue and green!

Gram paints Trained to touch his upper lip to a target, Gram dabs the paint onto stretched canvas.

Gram and his artwork Gram poses with his artistic creation. Even the bars on the back of his exhibit get some color!

Gram after painting Just like human children, Gram doesn't like his face washed. He poses with paint still on his mouth. It will wear off soon.

Zoo name: Gram
Species: Indian rhino
Location: Tanganyika Wildlife Park, Kansas

His story

Visitors would often get a surprise when they wandered down to the end of Elephant Mesa at the San Diego Zoo and saw an Indian rhino, Gram, looking like he was wearing lipstick! Gram has a special talent—he uses his lips to paint pictures!

How he learned to paint

As far as we know, Gram is one of the few rhinos in the world that know how to paint! His San Diego Zoo keeper, Laura, was watching the elephants paint one day and thought, “I bet Gram could learn to do that!” And it was easy to teach him! Gram had already learned how to perform some behaviors when asked. He knew how to lie down, lift each of his feet, open his mouth, and stand still for blood draws, so Laura thought he could easily learn to paint.

One of the very first behaviors that many Zoo animals learn is to “target.” This means that they touch a body part—nose or paw, usually—to a target that the keeper shows to them. Gram already knew how to target with his prehensile top lip, so Laura spent time asking him to touch it to a canvas. After he had that mastered, she started to put tempera paint on his lip, which he didn’t mind at all. Once he was covered in paint, Laura asked him again to target to the canvas, and that’s how he created his first beautiful rhino painting!

Washing up

The one thing Gram doesn’t like about painting is getting his face washed afterwards, which is why he has been seen looking like he’s wearing blue or yellow lipstick! Laura tried to clean him up, but he didn't always cooperate, and he was never forced to do anything he didn't want to do. If he was not in the mood to paint, she didn't make him, but he seemed to really enjoy doing it…and Laura did, too! Whenever Gram did what Laura asked him to, she rewarded him with treats. This is called positive reinforcement, and Gram’s favorite treats are apples and sweet potatoes.

Why painting?

Gram’s paintings have been raffled and auctioned off to help raise money for San Diego Zoo programs. But even if no one wanted Gram’s artwork, Laura would continue to help him paint because it was an enriching activity for him. This means that he enjoyed it, and it helped stimulate his brain and kept him from getting bored.

Where you can see him

Gram was born at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park in 1999 but lived at the San Diego Zoo until the fall of 2007. He now resides in Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Kansas. Read Laura's blog about his departure.