It is official: the much anticipated Chicago Lincoln Park (USA) Eastern Black Rhino calf is a male!

He was born on 19 May 2019, after a quick labour. The baby was stood up and drinking just a few hours after the birth. The calf second time mother, Kapuki, is doing a great job taking care of the new one.

It took almost more than 10 days for the zoo to announce the sex of the calf: this is quite strange because usually it is a simple task to do, expecially for experts. This baby is son of Makuu, one of the two male the zoo has in and the only one that seems to have received the interest of the female. Kapuki is 14 years old and her first calf is another male called King.

This is a great event for the US Eastern Black Rhino Breeding Program: however it would be important to shrink the interbirth interval, because it took 6 years for Kapuki to have a second calf (this is an issue in almost all the American couples). At the moment the only exception are Ayana and Kiano that had 2 calves in 2 years and an half. The male at the moment has not a name: as soon as it will be announced we will update the rhino births table.