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Dublin welcomes latest addition to zoo family

Friday, 20 June 2008

Dublin Zoo has welcomed a new and exciting addition to its family with the birth of a female Southern White Rhino.
The white rhino, which was born last week, is listed as ‘near threatened’ to ‘critically endangered’ - depending on the sub species.
The female calf weighed in at just over 70kg at birth and managed to stand up on all fours just minutes after she was born.
As its mother Ashanti is one of six white rhinos at the zoo, keepers were forced to employ a novel approach to monitor her development.
When they discovered she was pregnant late last year, keepers added different colour glitter to the rhino feed, which allowed them to identify Ashanti’s dung and test it for increased hormone levels.
According to a spokesperson for the zoo, the birth was completely natural and the calf is thriving.
“We are absolutely delighted with our new arrival,” said zookeeper Helen Clarke.
“One of our keepers, Ken Mackey, had been keeping a very close eye on Ashanti over the past month, particularly as we knew that she was due to give birth soon. He would visit her at 9.30am every day and that Wednesday when he arrived she started to go into labour.
Helen added: “It’s a very significant birth as it’s the first rhino born at Dublin Zoo in 14 years. As you can imagine it has created huge excitement for everyone here. The calf is really strong and she is suckling well, which is fantastic. We look forward to introducing her to all our visitors over the coming weeks.”
According to Ms Clarke the new addition is a significant birth for the zoo as “many years of patience, plotting and planning” went into the selection of the rhinoceros herd.
Visitors to the zoo will be able to see the baby rhino and her mother Ashanti at the African Plains.
Dublin Zoo has seen a number of births in recent months, with a bull elephant calf born in February and a female elephant calf, Asha, born in May of last year.

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