--- ---  # Rhino That Could Paint Dies at Denver Zoo  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Sep 18, 2015 10:39 PM UTC  Courtesy of the Denver Zoo  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Sep 18, 2015 10:39 PM UTC A 21-year-old black rhinoceros who could make paintings by holding a paintbrush in his mouth has died at the Denver Zoo. Mshindi, who had chronic painful foot problems, was euthanized Wednesday after he “lost his quality of life,” according to a post on the[ zoo’s Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/DenverZoo?fref=ts). He was famous for making paintings that were sold to raise money for animal conservation. “This is very hard for all of our staff,” zoo official Dale Leeds told [CBS.](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/denver-zoo-mourns-death-of-rhino-known-for-his-painting/) “We’ll miss him terribly, but we knew this was the right thing to do.” The median life expectancy for black rhinos in North America is 17.8 years, according to the zoo’s Facebook. Mshindi, Painting Rhino, Dies at Denver Zoo ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4041288/rhino-paint-denver-zoo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4041288/rhino-paint-denver-zoo/"},"headline":"Rhino That Could Paint Dies at Denver Zoo","datePublished":"2015-09-18T22:39:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:24:56.058Z","description":"He could paint with a paintbrush in his mouth","url":"https://time.com/4041288/rhino-paint-denver-zoo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Zoo","painting"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1da40f7f91abafca/6988645e0b72e39fbe6e5e65/mishindi_painting-rhino.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1da40f7f91abafca/6988645e0b72e39fbe6e5e65/mishindi_painting-rhino.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"mishindi_painting-rhino","caption":"","creditText":"Courtesy of the Denver Zoo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4041288/rhino-paint-denver-zoo/","name":"Rhino That Could Paint Dies at Denver Zoo"}}]}] ```