CUMBERLAND, Ohio — Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is welcoming several babies at The Wilds this fall, with three births including a southern white rhino, a Persian onager and a greater one-horned rhino, who required hand-rearing to thrive.
The greater one-horned rhino was born on Sept. 22 and has yet to be named. She already weighs more than 150 pounds and is giving the animal management team a first: hand-rearing a rhino calf.
Rhino calves usually weigh more than 100 pounds at birth while adult greater horned rhinos can reach between 4,000 to 6,000 pounds.
Team members acted quickly when they noticed Anna, a 13-year-old first-time mother, was unable to care for her newborn. Anna came to The Wilds in 2021.
“I applaud the successful efforts of our Animal Management team who made the difficult, but correct, decision to hand-rear this calf for her own wellbeing and for the wellbeing of her mother,” said Dr. Joe Smith, vice president of The Wilds. “A 150-pound bottle-fed calf is an impressive success story and a noteworthy benchmark in our unprecedented breeding program for species that face so many threats in their native rangelands.”
Dan Beetem, The Wilds director of animal management, said as the calf grows stronger the team is preparing to integrate her with the herd so she can live and develop as a rhino.
“The good news is, we have several young female rhinos with whom she can interact and learn how to be a rhino,” Beetem said in a news release. "She will continue to be bottle fed for several months. Mother-raised rhinos will typically nurse for almost a year and a half. We expect that she will be ready to start working on reintroduction to the herd once those animals are back in the barns for the winter.”
This is the tenth greater one-horned rhino born at The Wilds. The calf's father is Suru, who was born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 2000. Suru also came to The Wilds in 2021 per a breeding recommendation through the Species Survival Plan. This calf is his fourth.
The species nearly went extinct during the 20th century. The Wilds is home to six greater one-horned rhinos and is one of only 19 AZA-accredited facilities in North America to care for this species.
In comparison, The Wilds is also home to 17 southern white rhinos and has had 30 white rhino births since 2004. The most recent being a female calf born Sept. 23 to Anan, who was born at The Wilds in 2009. This is her fifth calf. The father is Kengele, a 25-year-old rhino born at San Diego Zoo Safari Park who came to The Wilds in 2012. This is his ninth calf.
"The Wilds is the only facility outside of Africa with white rhinos born four and five generations removed from their wild-born ancestors," the news release said.
White rhino calves have a gestation period of 16 months and can grow to be 6 feet tall at their shoulder weighing up to 5,000 pounds.
“Our successful rhino breeding programs are a valuable insurance policy for these animals that face grave dangers in their native ranges,” Smith said.
A Persian onager is the third birth being celebrated, with this being the first birth since 2017 and the 34th onager birth at The Wilds. Jemma, first time mother is 8 years old and father Mandrake is 15 years old. There are only 700 onagers estimated to live in the wild today, mostly in Iran.
The adult Persian onager, a subspecies of Asiatic wild ass, weigh about 500 pounds and stand about 50 inches at the shoulder.
“Careful consideration must be made to ensure genetic diversity when breeding a population with such few numbers,” Beetem said.
With this birth, there are 17 onagers at The Wilds, and a total of 36 in professional care in North America.
Guests of The Wilds may have the opportunity to see some of the babies in their barns during the Winter Wildside Tours, which begin for the season on Nov 1.