Michigan and the World Welcome Baby Black Rhinoceros

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On December 24, 2019, the Potter Park Zoo in Michigan welcomed a healthy male black rhino calf. (Potter Park Zoo / Facebook)

Baby Black Rhino Born at Michigan Zoo on Christmas Eve

by Katherine J. Wu/Smithsonianmag.com

The world now has one more black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis). Born to 12-year-old mother Doppsee, a yet-to-be-named male calf was delivered as an “early holiday gift” at the Potter Park Zoo in Michigan on Christmas Eve, reports Derrick Bryson Taylor for the New York Times.

The birth marks a momentous first for the zoo, which has never before delivered a captive black rhino. The animals are “statistically and historically very hard to breed,” Pat Fountain, an animal care supervisor at the zoo, tells Taylor. In anticipation of the event, the zoo set up a video feed to broadcast the arrival of the calf, who tumbled into the world at 5:40 a.m. local time on Tuesday.



Just over 5,000 black rhinos remain in the wild—an improvement compared to the population’s all-time low from about 20 years ago, when numbers dipped below 2,500. But tens to hundreds of thousands of black rhinos roamed the plains and savannas of Africa prior to 1960, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Continued habitat loss, poaching and black market trafficking of the animals’ highly prized horns have since kept the species on the critically endangered list.

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  1. I urge everyone to listen to this fascinating lecture in 1994 by Joel D. Wallach, DVM, ND. He grew up on a farm in Missouri and as a kid had many questions which did not get answered until many years later. This speech provides much wisdom which you will never hear from your local M.D.
    “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejUFB424bhM Wallach was a large animal Vet who treated elephants and rhinos and was author of a thick book on the subject. This great video shows pictures of Dr. Wallach DVM treating a young Rhino Calf. He is a world authority on them and authored many scientific papers and some books.

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