Baby rhino on the way
It’s baby number two for our critically endangered eastern black rhino, Dakima!
Any animal pregnancy is exciting. But when it’s a critically endangered species conceived through the European Breeding Programme, it’s extra special! Our Eastern black rhino, Dakima, has been showing signs that she’s expecting baby number two – and the zoo team couldn’t be more excited!
Being solitary animals in the wild, the rhinos usually reside in their own separate paddocks at the Kifaru Reserve enclosure at Folly Farm’s zoo. But as part of the managed breeding programme for the species, keepers have been allowing Dakima and her mate Nkosi some carefully planned ‘date nights’ – to try for another breeding success story for the happy couple!
So how do you find out a rhino is pregnant you may ask? No, we don’t try and get them to wee on a stick (could you imagine?), instead we have to get a bit more scientific and send stool samples to a specialist lab in Chester Zoo to analyse her poo!
The hormone levels tested in the endocrinology lab have indicated an increase in her levels, and along with a steady weight gain over recent weeks – the team are hopeful another calf is on the way. In fact, they predict that she’s already several months into her 15-16 month long gestation period, and that she should be due some time in November!
12-year-old Dakima gave birth to her first calf, ‘Glyndwr’, in January 2020 – just prior to the first lockdown at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. He’s since grown and moved away to fellow animal park, Flamingo Land, in order to continue the breeding programme for this critically endangered species.
In 2015, when the black rhinos first arrived at Folly Farm, there were thought to be fewer than 650 individual eastern black rhinos left in the wild. However, thanks to global conservation efforts, numbers have now doubled with almost 1400 wild rhinos and approximately 85 eastern black rhinos residing in zoos across Europe.
”It’s still early days at the moment – but we’re remaining hopeful that we’ll be celebrating another breeding success for this critically endangered species! It’s the ultimate goal working as a zookeeper – to raise awareness of the plights of these amazing animals and play a part in increasing numbers of endangered species in captivity and, eventually, in the wild!” Alan Keeling, Zoo Manager
Dakima did a fantastic job raising her first calf, Glyndwr – named after our late Founding Director, Glyn Williams. We’re hopeful that she’ll do a great job this time around too. She seems to be taking everything in her stride so far – and keepers will ensure she’s monitored closely as per usual and given extra comfy bedding to keep her comfortable throughout the remaining months of her pregnancy.