I totally understand why the publisher would update 1963's Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever. Some of the race and gender issues desperately needed updating. Stereotypical Native American costumes were totally okay in '63, for example, and a cat wearing a dress, screaming for help in a burning building was tastefully changed from "beautiful screaming lady" to "cat in danger." I'm so glad that How to Be a Retronaut ran some side-by-side comparisons between the two editions; it's interesting and informative. But my question has to do with this photo:

Click to enlarge.
  • Click to enlarge.

Why the hell did they change the rhino dentist to a bear dentist? What has happened to rhinos since the 60s that it's suddenly improper to depict a rhino practitioner of dentistry? It's bad enough that the new drawings are much poorer in quality; why did they have to make unnecessary changes to the Scarry book, too?

(Thanks to Slog tipper Clinton.)