The Secret of the Rhino: Is A New Mount Coming?

Is the Rhino hiding a secret about a future mount that we might see in the Crown Shop? From a new bundle? What about new packs? What could it be saying?

When you want to ride a Great Hornculous aka Rhino mount in Wizard101, you suddenly see this.. Wait a minute, Pygmy Gray Whale?! Is it possible? In the real world, there's NO Pygmy Gray Whale. But there is a Pygmy Sperm Whale and lesser known, Pygmy Right Whale.

Pygmy Sperm Whale is actually not that much larger than dolphins? I know, I couldn't believe it. There's actually whales the size of dolphins?! They can grow from 3 feet 11 inch at birth to 11 feet when full grown. Actually there's also Dwarf Sperm Whales that are even smaller. Astounding, isn't it? Up to 1965, people thought that both Dwarf and Pygmy Sperm Whales were actually the same whale. Then a smart scientist figured out that they actually weren't the same type of whale and put them in their new classifications. But they both doesn't really look like a whale at least to me. Their face looks like more like a shark or something else with a LOT smaller mouth and teeth in my opinion. Whales I remember didn't have teeth. And the rest of their body looks like a mix of a whale and shark without a huge dorsal fin. But both have blowholes and can expel reddish substance when frightened or threatened to scare off predators. The Dwarfs eat squid and crab. Pygmies eat squid and octopus, rarely fish. Don't worry, the Great White Shark is still King of the Ocean. HEYYYY, we should have a Lord/King/Queen of the Ocean badge for Pirate101! :O!

Anyway, interestingly enough, the Pygmies have three chambers in their stomach. Reminds me of cows.. kinda. The Dwarf Sperm Whale loves the deep water and is more coastal than the Pygmy Sperm Whale. Sadly, the Dwarf is more hunted than the Pygmy since it's found a lot closer to land than the Pygmy. They estimate that there might be around 11,000 just in the Pacific Ocean which I was surprised by. Seems too small to me. Who knows? Oh btw, Pygmy Sperm Whale's teeth lack enamel because of a mutation in their genes. I know? WHAT?! Go figure... One thing is different about the Pygmy is they have creamy, often pinkish color on their bellies while the Dwarf has a lighter white belly. Both have blueish-grey bodies though.

Pygmy Right Whales is an interesting one! They apparently figured out that they are not actually right whales at all. They belong to a family of baleen whales called cetotheres, which were thought to be EXTINCT 2 million years ago until found recently LAST YEAR! Yes that's 2012. They actually do look like whales we know. They grow from 5-7 feet at birth and up to 20-21 feet at adult. They are actually the smallest of baleen whales. They do not have teeth, but they do have ballen which helps them filter water from their food. Hey, this sounds familiar, doesn't it? They are usually found in the southern oceans of the southern hemispheres. BRRRR, it's cold there! It's near Antarctica. ACK! Not much is known about them because they're hard to find. I totally understand. I wouldn't wanna go somewhere cold to try to find one too LOL!

Thinking a lot of this, I decided to draw a Pygmy Right Whale mount since I wanted to imagine what it could look like if we had one. I think it's pretty cool actually! I realized that the other Pygmy Whales wouldn't look good as a mount. But the Right Whale is perfect I believe. 

But then I realized that what if the name of the mount wasn't referring to the color of the whale, but an actually large species of whale.. like the Gray Whale! Right Whales looks a lot like the Gray Whales, except Gray Whales can reach up to 50 feet long! The Gray Whale has been hunted for HUNDREDS of years sadly enough for its blubber. In fact, the North American population is actually thought to be extinct due to whale hunting. The United States finally wised up in 1936, finally protecting Gray Whales from being hunted. Because of that, the California (Eastern Pacific) population has risen back up to about 26,000 Grey Whales. Japan has not protected whales at all, they never stopped hunting them and in fact, they currently have only 130 Gray Whales left in Western Pacific near Japan. It's a shocking comparison isn't it? They are the travelers of the sea, they will travel a LONG way just to reach their breeding grounds as well as birthing grounds. And they have barnacles usually on their skin. They eat crustacean that live near the seabed which it eats by turning usually on its right side which causes loss of eyesight in the right eye for older animals. Interesting, never knew this! They usually reach puberty at EIGHT years old. Wow. And as newborns, they are about 16 feet long. That's the biggest baby we've ever seen! :O So, maybe we will have a "mini" Gray Whale mount which will be called Pygmy Gray Whale.

Here's what I think the whale mount would look like. Now my only question is what do YOU think? Do you think it's possible we are seeing a whale mount coming soon? Could it be a bundle, pack, crown shop? You excited or not? Would you want one? In W101 or P101 or both?