There is a second baby White Rhino at North Carolina Zoo (USA) and curiously it is another female! The little lady follows Mguu, her bigger half-sister born in January.

The new calf was born on 24 February 2020 to mum Linda and dad Stormy. She is the fourth female calf born in less than 2 years at the zoo.

We are absolutely happy for all this lady rhino births in the USA, since the Southern White Rhino metapopulation is in desperate need of young female to continue and renewed the Breeding Programs. Otherwise, we have to point out some important issue that needs changes: North Carolina Zoo has spent many years trying to breed male Stormy with a relatively big crash of potential breeding females. He was successfull after 4 years of tempatives and the result were that 2 out of 4 adult females gave birth to healthy calves in 2018. The same two adult females gave birth again less than two years after to other two healthy calves: the interbirth interval was really short and this is indeed a very good point because it means that there is good chemistry between the Rhinos involved, which is basic for a succesfull breeding. However, there’s still room for improvement: there are 2 other adult females at North Carolina Zoo that need to start breeding and produce calves in the very near future. In particular we are concerned about the younger one: if Natalie, the older, could be difficult, Abigail, the younger, shouldn’t be. She is a great resource for the Breeding Program and if she is not able to breed in North Carolina she has to be transferred in the very next months. Abigail is also one of Linda’s calf: it could be that the mother or the other adult breeding female, Kit, are dominant over the other two and suppress them from having regular cycles.

Anyway, having 4 healthy calves in less than 2 years is a victory that no other Zoos worldwide have reached, so we are very happy for North Carolina Zoo!