Beekse Bergen (NL) informed trough its Official Facebook page that on 28 March 2017 White Rhino Ansje succesfully gave birth to a calf. Unfortunately, the newborn was rejected by his mother and found dead the very next morning by Keepers. Zoo Officials added that apparently there were no need to intervene, as things seemed to going well between Mum and calf. The calf dead might be due to an accident, as Ansje seemed to have stepped on it, who probably was too weak.

We’d like to highlight, apart from the obvious sad news, that Beekse Bergen (NL) was able to breed from a female who is really old, speaking in rhino terms. Ansje was born back in 1988 and gave birth for the first time at almost 29 years old. It is really difficult to make White Rhino females breed after their 20 years of age. There is a high risk for them to develop tumor on their genital tract that lead to infertility if they not breed before this time. Curiously, Ansje’s full sister, Noelle, who lives at La Palmyre (FR) gave birth for the first time at 28 years of age to a calf that didn’t survive. Noelle, next year, succesfully gave birth to Renétte, that now resides in Schimiding (AU).

Also, Ansje is a first-time mum. It is not unusual between White Rhino primiparous to reject their first calf. It happened with Kibibi and Kibo in Augsburg (DE) and, most recently, to Ursula and her newborn, in Fossil Rim (Texas,USA), as you can see form our site.

Last, but not least, there is the importance for the Bull, Limpopo, to have become a father for the first time.