A substantial bunch of news have recently flourished from “Rhinoworld”. In this long post we are going to summarize the major events that have taken place in the past few days.
We are deeply thankful to our Teammates Harish S. and Robyn N.G. that continue their great job collecting information from the US Facilities!
Baby rhinos are announced – almost! – every day and we can’t be happier.
As you can see from our 2020 list of baby rhinos, a page really loved by followers, on 14 October 2020, Colchester Zoo in UK has welcomed its second baby Southern White Rhino of the year. A first-time mum, Astrid, 7 ½ years old, whose pregnancy was announced by the Zoo several months ago, has successfully given birth to a healthy male calf. The baby follows the arrival in January of his half-sister Lottie: the two calves share the same father, male Otto. Colchester crash confirmed to be a good breeding one, with two out of three adult females that are successfully rearing calves. There is also another adult female, Binta, transferred few months ago from another facility where she never bred: we do really hope that this young female could produce a calf on her own, since her mum is of a wild origin.
Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, in the US state of Oklahoma, announced the birth of a female Indian Rhino calf! The baby was born to second time mum Niki whose pregnancy was also announced several months ago, after careful introduction to the “new” resident male, an experienced bull called Arun (he has sired so many calves in the past). Niki’s baby, still unnamed, is the fifth (known) baby Indian Rhino born so far in the USA! A huge success for the conservation of this species. The little lady was born on 23 October and she follows her bigger half-brother Rupert by almost 6 years.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a huge facility located in the state of Florida, has announced the birth of the first of three calves announced in September. Experienced mum Kendi, the first surviving Southern White Rhino born in the facility in 1999, has successfully brought to the world her sixth calf, the very first with male Dugan, transferred from Erie Zoo, in Pennsylvania, at the end of 2018. Dugan never sired calves before, since he has spent the majority of his life in a “bachelor herd”: this calf, a male which has not been named yet, should be the first of three!
These mentioned above are indeed great news, since all the new-born calves described were produced by NEW RHINO COUPLES! – even if some of the parents involved have produced other calves before. It is a sign that stir couples up and transfer Rhinos from various Facilities is the key to a successful breeding program!
Together with new arrivals comes a sad news: the world oldest Eastern Black Rhino in human care was humanly euthanized at the venerable age of 46 years old. Kilaguni has suffered of age-related troubles in the past weeks and, when she was not able to stand up and eat, the decision was made to end her suffering. Kilaguni, of whom we posted some pictures on our Facebook page, was one of the founders of the Eastern Black Rhino meta-population in Europe. She successfully reared many calves and was retired from breeding at 27 years old, after a stillbirth. She will be greatly missed!
In Florida, the ZooTampa at Lowry Park, Indian Rhino mum Jamie’s fourth calf has just received a name: it is Gronk, after a famous football player!
In terms of transfers, we can inform that Szeged Zoo in Hungary has received its second Indian Rhino. Male Akeno, 2 ½ years old, is meeting his new pal, Csülök, in the next weeks. The two young bulls will spent many years together, preparing for the sexual maturity, forming what is called a “bachelor herd” of Rhinos.
Also young Southern White rhino lady Wiesje, 3 years old, has left her native Burger Zoo (NL) for a new place: Augsburg Zoo (DE). She will join a crash composed by an adult female Kibibi, an old female called Baby and a breeding male called Bantu. Augsburg Zoo recently lost its second breeding female, Chris,and we suppose that Wiesje arrival will bring a renewed helping hand because no calf has been born in the facility since 2016.
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