PREGNANCIES

Finally a gorgeous news arrives from Osnabrück where one of the two females Southern White Rhino is expecting her very first baby. Female Amelie, 14 years old, is half-way to her pregnancies with the birth expected between May and July 2021. This pregnancy has been long awaited, in fact Osnabrück renewed its breeding herd with three cows around 2007 and 2008 but the old residing male Floris was not able to impress them. The arrival in 2015 of Miguelin, a high experienced bull with a lot of calves sired was supposed to be a turning point. Unfortunately things did not work well: the third and younger cow, Marcita, was then transferred in 2016 even because the exhibit resulted too small to contain three adult females. Even if Marcita has since then given birth twice in her new home the two cows remaining in Osnabruck weren’t able to conceive. This went on until September 2020 when finally it was announced that Amelie and Miguelin will become parents.
This is a very important news because at least one of these two females can be recovered for breeding purpose, something we are always happy to know.

Two birth are also expected in Arnhem at Burger Zoo, where experienced females Izala and Kwanzaa are said to be expected both for 2021. We do not have any more details.

TRANSFERS

Augsburg Zoo in Germany has received its second cow of the year. After young Southern white rhino Wiesje even Numbi arrived at the facility. Numbi is a quite mature cow that has given birth four times prior but has not conceived anymore since 2009 even if she met another male. The zoo that she is from, Erfurt, is said to be renewing the extern exhibit, so it could be that the move of Numbi is temporary. We do hope that maybe with male Bantu the spark could be light again and Numbi could become mom for the fifth time but it remains a bit of a shot in the dark because she is described as a quite large and heavy female with the male smaller than her.

There is also a new Southern White rhino holder in Europe: it is Le PAL Zoo in France. In December it has received two young males: Mac (Tadala) from Dublin and Alan from Cotswold. It is not clear if a third male, Malabar from Peaugres, is arrived yet since he is scheduled to: we are waiting for confirmations.

Bioparc Fontaine in France has received in December young female Eastern Black Rhino Hazina from Chester (UK). This young female is of high genetical value and she represents the hope for black rhino baby in the future of the Bioparc. Older female Tisa, even is she has given birth for the first time at 24 years of age to a dead calf, is less likely to conceive again.

Another young female has left her native zoo for a new breeding situation. Indian rhino female Sananda quit Beauval at the beginning of December 2020 to reach Madrid: she should be paired with male Pancho for babies.

Good news arrives from Japan: it seems to be some reshuffling in the little _Japanese indian rhino meta population. Teammate Cooper Y. informs us that experienced mom Gopon has left Kanazawa Zoological Garden of Yokohama, where she lived since 2003, to reach Tama Zoological Park where two young bulls reside. Since Gopon is an experienced female she has been introduced to one of them, Bikram, with the hope for them to become a new breeding couple. Gopon older mate Kintaro is left alone at Kanazawa: it is not clear if he will be joined by another female. We hope so but choices are limited since Japanese population has only two more females: Nilgiri which we fear to be too old and Narayani that is of wild origin and at almost 20 years of age has never given birth.

Singapore Night Safari has received the two half-borther indian rhino males from Al Bustan Zoological Center called Thulie and Newari. It is not clear if they will be joined by a female in the future: we recall that Thulie has a rare skin condition so he needs constant cure and he could be excluded from reproduction

DEATH
We will finish this article with three departures. Rosetta Stone, affectionately known as Rosie, the last eastern black rhino held at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium (Ohio, USA) died on Monday 9 November 2020. Rosie was about to turn 31 but her health was rapidly declining. She was suffering from geriatric problems, such as arthritis and hypertension, and the vet team made the hard decision to euthanize her. Rosie was really loved by keepers and visitors, she was also known for her artistic skills, as she was able to paint using her prehensile upper lip stained with colors. Like many others her con specifics she never reproduced successfully, but the zoo said she contributed to important research for rhino reproduction. With Rosie’s death Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is at the moment without rhinos: we don’t know what the future plans are for this facility and we do hope it can receive new animals to start at least a good breeding program.

In a few days Europe lost two elderly Southern White Rhinos. On 23 December 2020 Parc Zoo du Reynou – Le Vigen (FR) lost his lonely male Southern White rhino, Tonga: he was 32 years old and his health situation has being getting worse in his last days. Anti-inflammatory treatments were added to his therapy, but unfortunately to no avail. Tonga was an atypical resident: he was born in Jacksonville (Florida, USA) and he arrived in Europa in 1989, one of the many rhinos that ended up in a circus. He then arrived in Reynou Park in 2006: during the first month of acclimatization Tonga was so scared that he hardly get off his trailer and he couldn’t get close to grass. We confide that he lived well the last period of his life between zebras, gnus, watussi and other antelopes at the park. Regarding this case we don’t know if the zoo will host again other rhinos. We need to add a little though: Tonga is not the only one that lived in circus since 1 year of age; for example Tank at Hollywild Zoo had quite the same destiny and in Italy Kunta, an old female that is now living at Zoo Lanciano, born in the USA.

On the last day of the year the oldest female Southern White rhino in Salzburg (AT) was euthanized: Frederike/Kifaru had her health deteriorated and died at 37 years of age. She was too an american born rhino and, just like Tonga, never reproduced. A very trustful source confirmed that Kifaru ovarians tissue and probably also Tonga’s semen were collected after their death, stored and hopefully will be used in the future as important genetic material.

This is the end of our very long post. For any correction please contact us!