Maize maze shaped like rhino head at Birchington museum

The maze resembling a rhino head is in a field of maize in Birchington

A maize maze has been shaped like a rhino head to raise awareness of how rare the species are becoming because of the threat from poachers.

It took six hours using a GPS plotting machine to map out and create the maze in a field at the Quex Park and Powell Cotton Museum in Kent.

For the last eight years, a maze has been created with an African theme to connect with the museum in Birchington.

This year the attraction has an exhibition about endangered animals.

'Measuring wheels'

In the past, the maze has been a lion and elephant and last year was shaped to resemble Nelson Mandela.

Dawn Tilley, a partner in Quex Maize Maze, said: "We always have a connection with the museum on an African basis so we are connecting with the Last Chance to See exhibition which the museum is putting on.

"So many people are simply not aware of how rare these species are becoming simply because of the hunt for the horns or the tusks."

Miss Tilley said when they first started creating the maize eight years ago it would take three weeks to map out the picture with measuring wheels and strings.

Now, because of modern technology it takes six hours.

The Powell-Cotton Museum at Quex Park was established in 1896 by Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton to house natural history museum specimens and cultural objects collected on expeditions to Asia and Africa.