Adorable baby white rhino born at zoo

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An adorable baby white rhino has been pictured for the first time since he was born at a zoo.    The male calf, who has not yet been named, was born on October 2 at Whipsnade Zoo in Beds to parents Fahari and Sizzle.   He weighs less than 50kg making him smaller than other calves born at the zoo but his keeper said he has a "very healthy appetite".

Transcript

00:00We are very excited here at Whipsnade because we have just had a baby southern white rhino.

00:08Seven-year-old Fahari has given birth to a very small, very petite little baby boy.

00:14It was a smooth birth. We were able to watch, albeit remotely, on CCTV.

00:19Just wanted to keep our distance and make sure that everything was nice and quiet and calm.

00:23But we were nearby. We did need to help out in any way, but Fahari was great. She was a superstar.

00:28So she delivered the baby swiftly and everything went as planned.

00:32Mum and baby are getting on great. Obviously, again, being a first-time mum,

00:36Fahari's had a lot to learn, but she's doing really well. Baby's doing really well as well.

00:41He takes a lot of milk. It's a lot of growing to be done at that age. That takes a lot of energy.

00:46So as a team, they finally cracked it and they're getting on great.

00:49Dad, Nsizwa, who we call Sizzle for short. Sizzle has been quite prolific over the years.

00:55This is calf 16. So Sizzle has done a really good job here at Whipsnade.

00:59The Southern White Rhino here at Whipsnade and across Europe

01:02are part of a conservation breeding program.

01:05In the wild, the Southern White Rhino are near-threatened.

01:08Threats like poaching and habitat loss have really kind of encroached

01:11on the numbers of these guys out in the wild.

01:14So that's why it's really important that we breed a really viable

01:16and genetically diverse backup population in zoos across Europe.

01:21So our new arrival, along with seven-month-old Benja,

01:25and even three-year-old Nandi have proven to be,

01:28they're going to be valuable members of that breeding program.

01:30Visitors can expect to see the new baby boy quite soon.

01:33We're monitoring him and mum closely. He will be inside the house while he finds his feet.

01:38Hopefully he'll be outside in the paddock with the rest of the group by October half-term,

01:42but that's very weather dependent because he's a very small rhino.

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