A New Rhino in Auckland Zoo

Wedneday 19 September, 2018

A New Rhino in Auckland Zoo

Vocabulary:

Breeding program: When people plan for captive animals to have babies

Settle in: become accustomed to a new home

Calves: the plural of “calf”, a baby ruminant (an animal that eats grass)

Answers

Hamilton Zoo has sent a young female white rhino to Auckland Zoo as part of a breeding programme. She will join two male rhinos at Auckland Zoo, Zambezi and Inkosi.

The rhino, named Jamila, was born at Hamilton Zoo in 2012. Jamila has spent the last few months learning how to travel and meeting her new zookeepers. A female white rhino typically weighs about 1,700 kilograms, so it was important that she stayed calm while travelling and settling in to her new home.

Hamilton Zoo has had a very successful rhino breeding programme, with seven rhino calves born since 2002. Inkosi, who was the first rhino born in Hamilton Zoo, is one of the males that Jamila will join in Auckland. Zookeepers hope that with Jamila’s move to Auckland Zoo, there will be more baby white rhinos coming soon.

The white rhino is the largest of all the rhinos and is an endangered species native to Africa. The world-wide population of white rhino is about twenty thousand.