We couldn’t be more happy than we are knowing that three new Southern White rhino calves trot into the Rhino World: they are two females and one male.
As many of you know last year Europe has seen less birth than usual and so, knowing that not one but two rhino babies are already born in the first few days of the new year is a huge surprise.
But let’s start from the beginning.
The first female calf was born in Colchester (UK) from third time mum Emily and dad Otto #1360. Emily’s pregnancy was already announced back in May 2019 thereafter the calf’s arrival was much awaited: the fact that in the end it has been revealed to be a female it’s just joyful surprise in the surprise because Europe tends to produce more male calves. The little lady was born in the evening of Saturday 4 January after a quick labour, with mom up on her feet a few moments after landing safely her daughter. The calf appear to be strong and healthy, at the moment away from the crowd in the peace of the maternity box bonding with her mom. As happened before with the other little calves born at the zoo, the facility will probably ask the public an help in choosing the name for the baby. At the moment 6 rhinos reside in Colchester: female Emily and her calf, Astrid #2150 and Binta, that arrived in late 2019 from another zoo, bull Otto and Emily’s previous calf, three year old Kifaru #?. The latter one will be probably moved very soon to another place where he will start a bachelor group with another young male of the same age.
The second calf is again a female and was born just 18 months after her bigger sister, a sort of record in captivity: normally the inter-birth period is much more longer! It seems that mom Kit and dad Stormy at North Carolina Zoo (USA) had found the perfect chemistry. The little calf was born on Sunday 5 January 2020 and will receive a name later, informed a press release. The facility holds 9 rhinos now. As much as we are happy with this new birth – and we are expecting a new one soon – it’s vital that also Natalie and moreover the young Abigail could begin contributing soon to deliver baby rhinos too. We hope that Kit’s previous daughter Bonnie could be soon transferred to a new facility in order to stimulate her breeding as soon as possible: in fact, as it is known, the mother could suppress the daughter’s cycle.
The third calf is at Dortmund (DE): almost 6 years after their first baby mom Shakina and dad Amari welcomed an healthy baby bull on 8 January 2020. As far as the zoo knew about the pregnancy since August 2018, thanks to some test done by a specialised institute, it didn’t share the news before the partorition day. The little bull appears strong and healthy, he’s being well cared by his mom and will receive a name in the near future. At the moment the mom and boy are behind the scene visible only by public through a CTT circuit built for the occasion.
