the meaning of "the most attractive, the most challenging to draw near to for that"

[optimistic pessimist]

Dear all,

"......he (an old rhino at a zoo) was never a big draw, being, I suppose, entirely too inactive to look at for long. And yet I found him the most attractive, the most challenging to draw near to for that..."

Is it okay to paraphrase the words in bold into "I found him the most attractive and the most challenging animal to draw near to..."?

With "animal" I can see the meaning of the sentence just by glancing at it, but not without "animal".

Thank you!

OP

[Rover_KE]

You can add the word animal without changing the meaning.

Rover

[Raymott]

Dear all,

"......he (an old rhino at a zoo) was never a big draw, being, I suppose, entirely too inactive to look at for long. And yet I found him the most attractive, the most challenging to draw near to for that..."

Is it okay to paraphrase the words in bold into "I found him the most attractive and the most challenging animal to draw near to..."?

With "animal" I can see the meaning of the sentence just by glancing at it, but not without "animal".

Thank you!

OP

Not without context. If "he", being old, is the only rhino that people don't look at, the missing word is 'rhinocerous', not 'animal'.