--- title: Mshindi, Painting Rhino, Dies at Denver Zoo description: He could paint with a paintbrush in his mouth canonical: https://time.com/4041288/rhino-paint-denver-zoo/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-18T22:39:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:24:56.058Z og:title: Rhino That Could Paint Dies at Denver Zoo og:description: He could paint with a paintbrush in his mouth og:url: https://time.com/4041288/rhino-paint-denver-zoo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1da40f7f91abafca/6988645e0b72e39fbe6e5e65/mishindi_painting-rhino.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: mishindi_painting-rhino og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rhino That Could Paint Dies at Denver Zoo twitter:description: He could paint with a paintbrush in his mouth twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1da40f7f91abafca/6988645e0b72e39fbe6e5e65/mishindi_painting-rhino.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 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. ```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"}}]}] ```