Auckland Zoo has a new Rhino!

Auckland Zoo is celebrating the birth of its first baby rhino in 20 years – a healthy female delivered by first-time mum Jamila in a speedy one-hour labour 12 days ago.

The birth of the southern white rhino calf happened on the 14 August. Mum Jamila and 30-year-old dad Zambezi seemed very excited.

The birth follows a 16-month pregnancy.

To celebrate the new arrival at Auckland Zoo is running a competition to name the new rhino. If you would like to enter the competiton visit the Auckland zoo website for more details.

Rhino Facts

• Auckland Zoo has 4 southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum); Jamila (8 years), her yet-to-be-named calf, male Zambezi (30 years) and Zambezi’s son, Inkosi (18 years), as part of the ZAA breeding programme for this ‘Near Threatened’ (IUCN Red List) species.
• Jamila’s newborn calf is the first rhino birth at Auckland Zoo in 20 years; the last birth being female Kito in 2000 to Mazithi. Kito relocated to Hamilton Zoo in 2007.
• Calf milestones: a newborn rhino calf suckles regularly from its mother, needing 10-12 litres of milk per day in its first year, and grows particularly fast in its first 18 months. It remains dependent on its mother for the first 18 months – 2 years, by which age it gains more independence.
• Africa’s ‘Near Threatened’ southern white rhino is a conservation success story, having recovered from near extinction in the early 1900s with just 50 – 100 left in the wild, to 18,000 today. However, habitat loss, political unrest, and particularly poaching (for their horns) continue to be major threats.