Teddy Roosevelt And The Rhinoceros
Smithsonian Institution ArchivesTeddy Roosevelt with one of the rhinoceroses he shot during his African safari. 1909-1911.
After winning reelection in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt announced that he would respect the time-honored tradition of the American presidency and not run for a third term. As his presidency drew to a close, the famously active president directed his energy elsewhere — to a safari in Africa.
The stated purpose of the safari was to collect rare specimens for the National Museum. Roosevelt wanted to shoot and collect everything from lions and elephants to giraffes and buffalo.
During the safari, Roosevelt would face plenty of danger — just as he liked it. But his brush with death came in the form of a charging rhino.
Smithsonian Institution ArchivesThe “Roosevelt rhinos” at the Natural History Museum. 1959.
As Roosevelt later wrote, he and a fellow member of his team were alerted to the presence of a rhino nearby. “In five minutes we had reached the opposite hillcrest, where the watcher stood, and he at once pointed out the rhino… The big beast stood like an uncouth statue, his hide black in the sunlight; he seemed what he was, a monster surviving over from the world’s past.”
The rhino noticed Roosevelt just as the former president took his shot. “At the same moment he wheeled, the blood spouting from his nostrils, and galloped full on,” Roosevelt remembered. As the rhino charged at them, Roosevelt and the other man continued to fire.
“Ploughing up the ground with horn and feet, the great bull rhino, still head toward us, dropped just thirteen paces from where we stood,” Roosevelt recalled. “This was a wicked charge, for the rhino meant mischief and came on with the utmost determination.”
Just three years later, Theodore Roosevelt would face death yet again. But this time, he’d be the one facing a man with a gun.
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