Erica the Rhino Has Escaped the Wild and is here on the World Wide Web!

Welcome! You’re probably wondering who on earth Erica is and how she’s managed to escape the wild?! Well, in truth, she’s not a real rhino. She is one of many, life-sized, fibreglass models created by Marwell Zoo in celebration of their 40th anniversary, but Erica is unique…

Marwell Wildlife is bringing Go! Rhinos; a mass, world-class public art exhibition, to the streets and parks of Southampton for 10 weeks this summer. From the 13th July till the 22nd September, rhino sculptures will trail all over the city, demonstrating the artistic talent that Southampton has to offer. Over the last few months, a variety of local organisations have agreed to sponsor a Rhino and are in the process of painting them with their very own look and feel. The ECS department (Electronics and Computer Science), here at the University of Southampton are taking it one step further (check out the sponsorship announcement)!

With permission from Marwell Zoo, the ECS tech team has been given a unique opportunity to fully customise Erica, equipping her with digital features. Over the course of the next 3 months, the tech teams will be working hard to digitize her from top to bottom with a whole range of cool, interactive features.

She will be in the city centre over the summer months where you can meet her in person and witness some state-of-the-art tech that we’re developing here at the university. Although you can’t see her just yet, you can follow her journey here, weekly on the blog and you can follow her on Twitter to keep up with all her progress.

Head over to the About page for more information on Erica’s interactive features and watch this space!