Newborn white rhino caught in precious moment with mom in North Carolina Zoo video
The North Carolina Zoo recently welcomed a baby rhino and the video it posted of her will make your day.
The baby southern white rhino, born on Sunday to mother Kit and father Stormy, is the third white rhino born there in less than two years, according to a release from the zoo.
She joins the zoo’s nine-member herd of rhinos, which includes two other calves.
The baby weighed about 100 pounds when she was born, the zoo says, and she’s expected to gain 100 more pounds each month for the next year.
A fully-grown rhino weighs anywhere between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds and is usually 12 to 13 feet long, the zoo says.
Rhinos are the second-largest land mammals, next to elephants, and are usually pregnant for between 16 to 18 months, the zoo says. They give birth about every two to five years.
The zoo said the baby is “even cuter” than imagined.
It posted a video of her to Facebook on Thursday that shows her walking around, nursing and spending some quality time with her mother.
“Grassland keepers are thrilled at yet another addition to our herd,” Jade Tuttle, zookeeper and board member of International Rhino Keepers Association, said in the release. “It’s a great gift to usher in the New Year and the new decade here at the North Carolina Zoo!”
Tuttle said in the release that the baby and Kit are doing well.
The birth of the rhino is a “significant achievement” for the zoo, the release says.
Southern white rhinos have been hunted for their horns nearly to the point of extinction, the zoo wrote on Facebook, and they’re “facing threats from habitat loss.”
The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the white rhino population is less than 17,000 worldwide.
The zoo works to preserve and care for the species and has several projects in South African countries to save it from extinction, the zoo wrote on Facebook.
The North Carolina Zoo, which has “been home to” rhinos since 1976, added a 40-acre Watani Grasslands exhibit in 2008 so it could breed a herd of rhinos, the release says.
“This is a great moment and testament to the dedication of our Zoo staff,” Zoo Director Pat Simmons said. “These successful births are because of a lot of hard work and collaboration among our entire animal care staff.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 4:13 PM.
