Joe Kahlo
Buffalo zoo announced the birth of a healthy one-horned female calf weighing 130 pounds
The birth is a great success for the one-horned rhino Species Survival Plan which has resulted in 5 calves in Buffalo Zoo over 17 years.
Born to mother Tashi, the recent newborn is her fifth calf and her first with father George.
After examination from the zoo’s animal care and veterinary units, the mother and daughter have been confirmed to be healthy.
George was moved to another Association of Zoos and Aquarium accredited facility as part of the survival plan.
The purpose of this is to maintain stable and genetically diverse captive populations of the vulnerable species.
The zoo wrote on the post on Facebook: ‘Starting off the week with happy baby news! On Saturday, at 3:29 a.m., our greater one-horned rhino Tashi gave birth to a beautiful baby girl!’
‘Over the next few weeks, our team will closely monitor Tashi and the calf, but currently, mom and calf are doing great.’
‘Tashi’s pregnancy was based on a recommendation from the greater one-horned rhino Species Survival Plan (SSP) through The Association of Zoos and Aquariums. SSP’s are designed to maintain genetically diverse and stable captive populations of species.’
‘The calf and Tashi will continue to bond behind the scenes for the next few weeks. We’ll be sharing all of the updates on our social media, so please be sure to share, like, and follow!’
This is great news for the species that was only moved from ‘endangered’ to ‘vulnerable’ a few years back.
