Taken from life, amongst the numerous Assemblage at the Royal Menagerie, Exeter Change, Strand, London.

Depiction of the animals from the Royal Menagerie, Exeter Change, Strand. The animals included are (allowing for artistic licence): ostrich, cassowary, crowned crane, tiger, kangaroo/wallaby, South American tapir, sloth bear, camel, lion, Asiatic elephant, Indian rhinoceros, zebra, leopard/jaguar, ring-tailed lemur, eagle, vulture, genet (?), mandrill, unidentified monkeys, cockatoo, macaw, parakeets.The animals included are (allowing for artistic licence): sloth bear, ostrich, cassowary, crowned crane, tiger, kangaroo/wallaby, South American tapir, camel, lion, Asiatic elephant, Indian rhinoceros, zebra, leopard/jaguar, ring-tailed lemur, eagle, vulture, genet (?), mandrill, unidentified monkeys, cockatoo, macaw, parakeets.

The menagerie was established by Edward Cross in 1773. The most popular exhibit was the elephant 'Chunee' who had to be shot in 1826 by soldiers when in an irritable mood he threatened to break the bars of his cage. The Change was demolished in 1829 and the menagerie moved to Surrey Zoological Gardens. The rhinoceros pictured was the second ever brought to England in 1739. He lived for 18 years and toured Europe. He was drawn originally by Dr James Parsons. All subsequent depictions (including this one) are based on those drawings. Image reproduced in Rookmaaker's Bibliography of the Rhinoceros.