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ATTENBOROUGH: The natural world
is full of extraordinary animals

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with amazing life histories.

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Yet, certain stories
are more intriguing than most.

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The mysteries
of a butterfly's life-cycle

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or the strange biology
of the emperor penguin.

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some of these creatures were surrounded
by myths and misunderstandings

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for a very long time.

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And some have only recently
revealed their secrets.

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These are the animals
that stand out from the crowd.

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The curiosities 1 find
most fascinating of all.

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some animals appear
to protect themselves

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with formidable suits of armour.

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The rhino carries plates
of thick hide on its flanks

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while the hedgehog is covered
in prickly spines.

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Both, in previous centuries,
inspired far-fetched

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and outlandish ideas.

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But what is the true nature
of their strange coats?

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Rhinoceroses are
strange-looking creatures.

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There are five kinds.

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The Indian, this one, has a single horn,
squat legs,

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tiny eyes... Whoa!

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And thick, folded skin.

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For many centuries before any
had reached Europe, they were

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surrounded by myth as much
as the unicorn.

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Few people had ever seen a live rhino.

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But, in 1 741 , a young Indian rhinoceros
called Clara came to Europe

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and she transformed our image
and understanding of the rhinoceros.

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Thank you.

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Before Clara arrived,

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little was known in Europe
about the rhinoceros.

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A few animals arrived here
in Roman times,

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but they didn't last long,
many being slaughtered

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during the brutal Roman games.

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1t wasn't until the 1 6th century

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that they first made a real mark
on Western society.

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1n 1 5 1 5,

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a woodcut of a rhino was created
by an artist called Durer.

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1t was a beautiful image
of an elaborately-armoured creature,

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but it was inaccurate.

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1t's doubtful whether Durer
ever saw a live rhinoceros.

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It's little wonder that the rhinoceros
was thought of

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as a magical, mythical creature,

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if Durer's woodcut of 1 51 5
was to be believed.

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He shows an armour-plated beast

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with a large horn

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and a strange little spike on his back.

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But in the 1 8th century, the perception
of the rhinoceros was to change,

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when Clara came to Europe

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on an extraordinary 1 7-year tour.

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Clara was captured in Assam

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at just a few months of age
when hunters killed her mother.

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A director of
the Dutch East 1ndia Company

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raised her in his household as a pet.

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she wandered indoors amongst
the elegant furniture,

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ate from a plate and was a popular
attraction at his dinner parties.

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But, inevitably, Clara got too big

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and a little-known Dutch sea captain
called van der Meer

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seized the chance to own possibly
the only tame rhino in the world.

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He saw the opportunity of making
a lifetime's income

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with an ambitious rhinoceros tour.

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Clara became an orphan while she
was still dependant on her mother.

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Rhino calves usually stay with
their mothers for up to two years,

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sustained by the milk.

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Only after that, are they able to
feed independently on soft, green grass.

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Keeping a young rhino healthy
was certainly a challenge.

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But van der Meer was smart
and took good care of his new charge.

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He travelled with her all the way
from 1ndia,

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around the Cape of Good Hope,

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up the coast of Africa
to the Netherlands,

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and his home town of Leiden.

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He discovered very soon that
Clara had a huge appetite.

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And he made sure that she
always had plenty to eat.

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Rhinoceros spend a great
deal of time feeding.

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They eat plant matter

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but they don't have multiple stomachs
to digest and absorb nutrients.

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So they need to eat large quantities
of food to survive,

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up to 1 00 kilos a day.

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1t takes a lot to fuel
such an enormous body.

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An adult rhino weighs over a tonne.

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And the 1ndian rhino has
a special mobile lip

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to help it grasp and rip up
the vegetation.

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After reaching Europe,

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Clara lived quietly in Leiden
for two years,

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feeding and growing,

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while van der Meer made plans
for his European tour.

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At the time, a live rhino
was a wondrous thing,

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as van der Meer well appreciated.

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He was a clever businessman
and he knew that publicity was needed

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if his grand tour was to be a success.

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van der Meer made an unusual alliance
with an ambitious Dutch anatomist

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B.S. Albinus,

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who was hoping to produce
a definitive medical textbook.

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Both men were looking for publicity.

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And together, they commissioned
jan Wanderlaar,

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an accomplished artist,

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to make prints that would serve
to advertise both the book

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and Clara.

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They were strange
but compelling pictures

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that combined precisely-drawn
human skeletons

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and detailed images of Clara.

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They were the most accurate
drawings yet of the rhinoceros.

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Wanderlaar sketched Clara from life.

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He was fascinated
by the texture of her skin

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and he depicted the rhino
more realistically than Durer did.

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so, at last, the myths surrounding
the animal's appearance

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came to an end.

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As the news of Clara's tour spread,

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everyone was eager to see
this wonderful new creature.

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And Clara's first trip to Vienna

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was for a royal appointment.

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The Empress Maria Theresa

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was so eager to see Clara and
so impressed by her appearance

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and good temperament,

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that she brought her children back
for another private showing.

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Clara became the talk of the town
and European heads of state

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were eager to meet her.

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she travelled through Europe
like a celebrity

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and met both royalty
and crowds of curious onlookers.

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Her horn in particular
attracted much attention.

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1n Paris, she started a rhino mania,

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with fashionable women styling
their hair a la rhinoceros.

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some regarded rhinos as living unicorns.

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The scientific name for the 1ndian rhino
is, in fact, Rhinoceros unicornis.

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And, at the time, it was believed
that the horn was made of bone.

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But this, in fact, is not the case.

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Rhinoceros horn grows from a spongy base

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positioned here on the skull.

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The horn has no bony core.

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It's made of keratin,
the same substance as fingernails,

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and can grow again if it's lost.

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Well, in june, 1 750,
Clara's horn fell off,

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probably due to her rubbing it
on the travel crate.

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To van der Meer,
this seemed to be a disaster,

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since he had no idea
that it would regrow.

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But ingeniously, he used the event
as a publicity stunt

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and the crowds flocked all the more
to see Clara,

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fearing that she might be dying.

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Even without a horn,
Clara was still a fascinating creature,

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and her strange, armoured skin
was another talking point.

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Why would such a gentle creature
have such thick and elaborate folds?

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The rhinoceros' skin in some parts

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is almost five centimetres thick,

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nearly three times thicker than you
would expect for an animal that size.

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We now know that in the wild, rhinoceros
are not always as gentle as Clara.

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They can be very aggressive,
particularly during the mating season.

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And the tough skin provides them
with some protection.

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But it also has other benefits.

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Thick skin is a good barrier
against sun, flies

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and other parasites.

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But why the skin of an Indian rhino
grows in plate-like structures

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with deep grooves, has only
recently been explained.

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We know that the thicker-skinned areas
are good physical protection,

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but something deeper is going on.

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1t seems that the large folds
increase the surface area of the skin

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and help the rhino regulate
its body temperature.

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The tissues around the grooves
are particularly rich in blood vessels

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and transmit heat to the enlarged skin
plates which act like cooling radiators.

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1ndian rhinoceros bathe regularly
and the folds in their skin

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not only trap water but hold it
even after they come back onto land.

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so it turns out that
the 1ndian rhinoceros' skin

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is a far more specialised structure
than anyone could've imagined.

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For 1 7 years, Clara travelled
across Europe

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stopping off in all
the main towns and cities.

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Everywhere she went,
the crowds queued up to see her.

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she visited England three times,

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but her third visit
proved to be her last.

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In 1 758, at the age
of little more than 20,

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Clara unexpectedly died in London.

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van der Meer was deeply shocked,

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as he thought she might live to be 1 00.

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Life on the road was over,

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but Clara's 1 7-year tour

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had changed the image
of the rhinoceros forever.

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Durer's classic engraving
of the fierce armoured beast

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was now a part of history.

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And new accurate images were produced.

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The true Indian rhinoceros, like Clara,

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looked just like this wonderful animal
painted by the great 1 8th century artist

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George Stubbs.

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van der Meer made his fortune
with her, on the grand tour,

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but Clara, more importantly,
also enabled people to

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get a first realistic view

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of what a rhinoceros looks like

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and put to rest the idea
of a heavily-armoured mythical creature.

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There is a more familiar animal

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whose body armour also perplexed us
for a surprisingly long time.

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The hedgehog.

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This delightful little creature

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is one of our most familiar
garden animals,

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and yet it's got a surprisingly
unusual appearance.

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Instead of fur, like most mammals,

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it's got a thick coat of spines.

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The only parts of its body
not covered by them

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are its face and its underside.

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The hedgehog's coat
may appear to be painfully prickly,

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but when the hedgehog's relaxed,
it can lay its spines down flat.

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When it senses danger, of course,
it rolls itself into a ball

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and is completely hidden and protected.

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It's a formidable suit of armour,
these spines,

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nothing much can get past them.

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1t seems obvious that spines
must serve as protection.

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But their function was, in fact,
misunderstood for a long time.

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Early books claim the spines
were used for collecting food.

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The hedgehogs were said
to climb apple trees,

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knock down the fruit and roll on it,

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impaling the apples on their spines,
and carrying them off to their burrows.

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Today, we know that hedgehogs are
better at climbing than you might think

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but they still haven't been seen
to climb trees.

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And there were other myths.

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1n medieval times, farmers believed

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that hedgehogs would steal milk
from their cows at night.

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so the Elizabethan Parliament
put a three pence bounty

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on the head of every hedgehog

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and thousands were slaughtered
as a result.

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Our attitude to the hedgehog
is now very different.

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Today, many of us get great pleasure

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from seeing this appealing
little creature

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in our gardens.

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We know that they are
a gardener's friend,

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feeding mostly on insects and slugs

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and helping to rid our plants of pests.

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Some of us even put out special food
to attract them.

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We now also understand more
about the hedgehog's spines.

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They are, in fact, modified hairs,

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hollow inside,
but reinforced with keratin,

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the same material that forms
a rhinoceros' horn.

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That makes them strong,
while keeping weight down to a minimum.

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A hedgehog has over 5,000 spines.

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And their main purpose
is indeed protection.

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But hedgehogs don't start life
with a coat of armour.

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1t'd be painful for a hedgehog mother
to give birth to spiny babies.

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But nature has dealt with that problem.

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Tiny hoglets are born with their spines
covered by a layer of skin.

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Within a few hours, the thin quills
break through.

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The baby hedgehog's first spines
are soft and white.

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But these soon fall out and are replaced
by darker and harder ones.

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Hedgehog spines are shed and regrown
at various stages in their lives,

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just like the hair of mammals.

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surprisingly, a spiny armour is
not common in the animal kingdom.

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1n Europe, the hedgehog
is the only one of its kind.

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But in other parts of the world,
there are creatures

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that have evolved a similar spiky coat.

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This is an African crested porcupine.

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It's got a formidable coat of spines,

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but it's no relative of the hedgehog.

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And the spines are, in fact,
very different.

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For one thing, they're very much longer.

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Normally, they lie flat
against the body,

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but if the animal is irritated,

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it erects them to give
a very spectacular warning.

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Even the most ferocious predator will
take care when approaching a porcupine.

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The quills will break off easily
and become lodged in the skin.

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The lions' only chance
is to attack from the front.

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As they circle their quarry,
the porcupine twists and turns

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to keep its armoured back to them.

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00:16:40,447 --> 00:16:43,200
This time, the lion got too close.

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1t has no way of removing the spike

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and may be unable to feed.

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1t could prove fatal for the predator.

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Although the porcupine's quills
may appear thin, even flimsy,

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once they get stuck in your flesh,

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they're remarkably difficult
and painful to remove.

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Why this should be was not known
until recently.

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But when looked at
under an electron microscope,

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you can see that each quill is coated
with tiny backwards-facing barbs.

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The barbs act like the teeth
on a serrated knife

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making it easier to penetrate the skin.

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But when it comes
to removing the quills,

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the barbs have the opposite effect

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and act as anchors, preventing the spine
from sliding out of the wound.

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The porcupine's spiky coat seems more
formidable than the hedgehog's.

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But the hedgehog
has a very effective way

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of protecting its vulnerable underbelly.

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1t rolls itself into a ball

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so that it is completely
encased in spines.

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Foxes do attack hedgehogs,

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but a fox must wait
until the animal is on the move

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if it's to get at
its unprotected underside.

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1f the hedgehog stays rolled
in a defensive ball,

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the fox can't harm it.

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All the hedgehog has to do
is to sit it out

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until the fox loses interest.

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00:18:32,087 --> 00:18:34,442
But if spines are such
an effective defence,

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why don't many other animals adopt them?

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00:18:37,967 --> 00:18:43,325
The answer seems to be connected with
the difficulties of life with spines.

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spines may be something of a hindrance
when it comes to mating.

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00:18:52,287 --> 00:18:56,678
1ndeed, early naturalists thought that
the hedgehogs must mate belly to belly

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to avoid being impaled
on each other's spines.

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00:19:01,647 --> 00:19:03,797
We now know that that's not the case.

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The spines seem to do nothing
to hinder the ardour

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00:19:06,887 --> 00:19:08,764
of a male hedgehog.

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00:19:10,607 --> 00:19:13,565
1f she's willing, he tries to oblige

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00:19:13,647 --> 00:19:17,481
but it still looks like a tricky
and uncomfortable operation.

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00:19:25,727 --> 00:19:29,003
Despite the limitations of a spiny coat,

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00:19:29,087 --> 00:19:31,885
hedgehogs have remained
largely unchanged

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00:19:31,967 --> 00:19:35,277
for almost 1 5 million years.

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00:19:35,647 --> 00:19:38,115
And new evidence
suggests that the spines

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may play another rather surprising role
in their lives.

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00:19:45,087 --> 00:19:48,875
Hedgehogs, when encountering
an unfamiliar or toxic object,

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sometimes behave in a very strange way.

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00:19:53,247 --> 00:19:57,126
They will lick and bite it
until they start to foam at the mouth.

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00:19:57,967 --> 00:20:01,516
The froth is then transferred
to their spines.

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00:20:03,287 --> 00:20:06,245
We still don't fully understand
this strange behaviour.

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00:20:07,807 --> 00:20:11,083
1t may help to camouflage
the hedgehog's smell

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00:20:11,607 --> 00:20:14,804
or make the spiny coat
more distasteful to predators.

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00:20:18,047 --> 00:20:22,120
Or maybe it helps hedgehogs
communicate with each other.

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00:20:22,567 --> 00:20:25,445
Or make them more attractive
to the opposite sex.

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00:20:26,967 --> 00:20:31,677
We might one day discover its
true purpose, but we haven't yet.

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00:20:38,127 --> 00:20:40,163
Our familiar British hedgehog

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has provoked some very strange
and far-fetched ideas.

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00:20:44,687 --> 00:20:47,997
But for many of us, it remains
one of the most engaging

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animals in the British countryside

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00:20:50,327 --> 00:20:53,763
and its prickly coat makes it
that much more attractive.

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00:20:56,167 --> 00:20:57,646
so it turns out

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00:20:57,727 --> 00:21:01,276
that some of the early ideas about
the purpose of the rhino's armour

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00:21:01,367 --> 00:21:02,925
and the hedgehog's spines

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00:21:03,007 --> 00:21:05,362
were only partly correct.

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00:21:05,967 --> 00:21:08,640
Their true functions
are far more complex

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00:21:08,727 --> 00:21:10,683
than we yet realise.