Czech Zoo Announces Male Black Rhino Born

The Dvur Kralove zoo, in the north of the Czech Republic announced the birth of a male black rhino, the 29th of the endangered species born since breeding began at the zoo in 1971.(AFP/File/Alexander Joe)

Dvur Kralove zoo hails another black rhino arrival

DVUR KRALOVE NAD LABEM, East Bohemia, Jan 4 (CTK) - Another calf of rare black rhinoceros, a male, was born in the local zoo on January 2, less than a fortnight after the female that came to world late last year, Jana Mysliveckova from the zoo's PR department told CTK today.

The new arrival is the 29th born in the zoo since 1971 when it started to specialise in the rare endangered pachyderm breeding.

"The young has been very agile since the beginning. It stood up less than two hours after the delivery and started sucking its mother's milk. It weighed about 36 kilograms," Mysliveckova said.

She said the breeders had monitored the rhino birth via a camera system in order not to disturb the mother, 21-year old Jessi.

The newborn male is Jessi's fifth offspring. Its father is Sauron, born in the local zoo in 1994.

About 100,000 heads of black rhinoceros lived in the wild in Africa in 1960, but only 3,100 survived the year 2000.

World zoos, including Dvur Kralove, mainly focus on breeding the rhino's east African subspecies of which the last 500 heads survive in the wild.

The Dvur Kralove zoo recently joined the international campaign Save the Rhinos and organises public events in support of the project.