Chester Zoo’s Rhino Calf Enjoys Muddy Puddles
April 08, 2016
Chester Zoo’s Eastern Black Rhino calf, Gabe, was recently photographed enjoying his first ever mud bath.
The youngster was seen slipping and sliding in the mud as he charged around with 13-year-old mum, Ema Elsa.
Kim Wood, assistant team manager of Rhinos at Chester Zoo, said, “Rhinos love nothing more than to roll around and play in fresh mud and it was great to see Gabe charge right in and enjoy getting messy. With the start of spring bringing in some warmer weather, wallowing in mud is great way for our Rhinos to cool off and it also helps to keep the Rhinos’ skin nice and healthy. We really do give them the five star spa treatment!”
Kim continued, “We’re really pleased with how Gabe is developing. He’s gaining in confidence with every passing day and helping us to raise more awareness of the terrible plight that his species is facing up to in the wild where, sadly, the Eastern Black Rhino is being illegally hunted to very edge of extinction.”
Photo Credits: Chester Zoo
Black Rhino populations have dropped by more than 95% over the last 50 years due to a global surge in illegal poaching for their horns, which continues to devastate the species.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the Eastern Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) as “Critically Endangered”. Their wild numbers are currently estimated at just 740 across Africa.
Kim explains, “There is increasing demand for Rhino horn in some Asian countries where it’s believed to have healing properties, even though it’s made mainly from keratin, the same material as fingernails. It’s pushed its value through the roof – Rhino horn fetches more per gram on the black market than both gold and cocaine. As a result, Rhinos across Africa are being slaughtered on a daily basis. After having their horns hacked off, they are left to slowly die.
“Rhinos have been on our planet for five million years and it’s absolutely imperative that we do whatever we can to protect them. We must not let them become just another addition to the ongoing list of magnificent animals to become extinct in our lifetime.”
Chester Zoo is one of just a handful of institutions in the world that is working with conservation organisations in Africa - including Save the Rhino International and the International Rhino Foundation - to ensure the long-term survival of Rhinos in the wild. Areas of the zoo’s support, both through funding and through the provision of its expertise, include: Tsavo, Chyulu and Laikipia in Kenya and Mkomazi in Tanzania.
The zoo is also responsible for carefully coordinating the breeding programme for the species in zoos across the whole of Europe, which is working to maintain a genetically viable insurance population of the species.
Gabe was born on January 16 to mum Ema Elsa (13-years-old). She was born on 02/11/2002 and has now had three calves at Chester Zoo: Bashira, Chanua and Gabe. Dad Kifaru is 31-years-old (born 21/10/1984). He arrived at Chester Zoo in 2014 from Hannover Zoo in Germany. He has now sired four calves, with this being his first at Chester Zoo. His other offspring are: Samira, Saya and Taco. The arrival of Gabe brings the total number of Eastern Black Rhinos at Chester Zoo to ten.