Welcome to your daily dose of cute, folks. Werribee Open Range Zoo is celebrating the safe arrival of a southern white rhino calf, born at 4am on March 21 – the first calf of this threatened species to be born at the zoo in almost a decade.
The birth comes after a gruelling 16-month pregnancy (and we thought nine months was rough!), during which first-time mum Kipenzi was carefully monitored by zookeepers and veterinarians. The 60-kilogram bundle of joy is a female who will be named in the coming weeks through a voting competition.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the mother-daughter duo, oh no. Following the birth, zookeepers noticed an absence of healthy bonding between the pair, with the sweet little bebé not thriving as expected during those first important hours of infancy. It was then decided that the zoo’s specialised veterinary team step in to provide medical checks and supplementary feeding.
Thankfully, with some extra TLC, both mum and bub are doing well, and the calf is in the process of being reintroduced to its mother, who is also being monitored and receiving daily check-ups and observations.
Southern white rhinos are currently listed as near-threatened, and their population is in decline with an estimated 10,080 remaining in the wild. The birth of this healthy calf is a major milestone for Werribee Open Range Zoo, and vital to the ongoing conservation of this species in the Australasian region.
“The arrival of this precious calf is an important achievement in the fight to save the species from extinction,” said Dr Mark Pilgrim, director at Werribee Open Range Zoo. “And we are excited that visitors will be able to view the pair once we have navigated these typically high-risk early days following the birth.”
Updates on Kipenzi and her calf can be found on Werribee Open Range Zoo’s social media channels. They will continue to bond in a private area of the zoo, before being introduced to the public and rejoining the rest of the rhino gang out on the savannah.