Kansas City Zoo welcomed the birth of a critically endangered species of rhino on December 31, 2022.
Zuri, a critically endangered species of the eastern black rhino gave birth to its young in the early hours of the day as announced by zoo officials.
According to the report by the rhinos’ animal care specialist, the calf is healthy, walking, nursing, and playing.
This is a welcome development as eastern black rhinos also known as the East African black rhino, a subspecies of the black rhinoceros, have been the target of poaching because of their horn thereby leading to their constantly dwindling population.
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The World Wildlife Foundation added that the political instability in Africa, its habitat, is fueling those poaching actions. The horns are used for herbal remedies the foundation noted.
Quoting the zoo officials, only about 740 eastern black rhinos are left in the wild. Poaching and a lack of safe habitat have been cited by Save the Rhino, a rhino conservation charity, as the major threats facing the animals.
The rhinoceros calf is expected to stay with its mother for at least two to four years. But in the meantime, human activities are limited around their enclosure to give mother and calf some bonding time.
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Black rhinos are known to live for as long as 30 – 35 years in the wild and about 35 – 45 or more years in captivity according to Save the Rhino.
