Dvur Kralove nad Labem, East Bohemia, Oct 4 (CTK) – A young black rhinoceros, a rare species on the brink of extinction, was born in the Dvur Kralove zoo on Tuesday, its spokeswoman Andrea Jirousova told CTK on Wednesday, adding that the little female is the 45th black rhinoceros calf born in the zoo.
Its mother is Etosha, who had a young in the Dvur Kralove zoo already once before, in 2012 and who was born in the zoo herself in 2006.
The father is 21-year-old Mweru.
The newborn calf weighed 34 kilo, Jirousova said.
The zoo’s expert Jiri Hruby said the mother and the young might go out for their first walk in a couple of weeks, if the weather allows it.
The Dvur Kralove zoo has 20 rhinoceros, including the new arrival, which is the largest group of all European zoos.
“The birth of another rhino is a wonderful piece of news for us. Several years ago, Etosha mothered a young female, Eliska, whom we successfully released in Africa last year. We are preparing for a similar release of more rhinos from our zoo,” zoo director Premysl Rabas said.
The zoo has been breeding rhinoceros since the 1970s and ranks among the world’s most successful breeders.
At present, it has the black rhinoceros and the southern white rhinoceros.
Within its rhino protection projects, it has released eight rhinoceros in reserves in Tanzania and Kenya so far.
The first rhino was born in Dvur Kralove in 1976.
Out of the 57 rhinos it has raised so far, 45 were black rhinos, five were northern white rhinos, three southern white rhinos, one southern-northern hybrid and three Indian rhinos.
