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The Washington Post

He was not born in a manger, and there were no wise men, nor frankincense or myrrh. But the masses are still flocking to see him.
Meet the Potter Park Zoo’s Christmas Eve miracle, a black rhino calf born at 5.40am on December 24 in Lansing, Michigan.
“It’s a boy!” the zoo wrote in the calf’s birth announcement.
The little guy does not yet have a name, but he has been collecting fans since before he was born. A video feed of his mother, 12-year-old Doppsee, broadcast his birth on the zoo’s Facebook page.


The baby rhino stood within an hour and a half of appearing in the world, nursed for the first time midmorning and has been the star of the zoo’s social media pages since.
The calf appears healthy and has been bonding “behind the scenes” with Doppsee, according to a news release from the zoo. This is Doppsee’s first offspring – and the first time in the Potter Park Zoo’s 100-year existence that a black rhino has been born there.
The species is critically endangered, the result of poaching in the wild and loss of habitat.
About 5,000 black rhinos exist in the African wild, an improvement from their historically low numbers 20 years ago, when the population was less than 2,500 and on the brink of extinction, according to the WWF.
World’s oldest captive white rhino dies in French zoo at 55
The zoo’s new calf was bred as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan programme, which aids population management and conservation within AZA member institutions.
There are more than 50 black rhinos in AZA zoos, and one of them – Phineus – came to the Potter Park Zoo in 2017 from Texas to breed with Doppsee. Fewer than two black rhino calves are born annually in captivity, according to the zoo’s new release, making each newborn “vital to this endangered population”.
“This is a monumental moment for Potter Park Zoo that has taken our staff years of planning and hard work,” Cynthia Wagner, director of the Potter Park Zoo, said in a statement.
“We are dedicated to conserving rhinos and couldn’t be more excited about this successful black rhino birth.”


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Conservation

Meet the ‘miracle’ black rhino baby born on Christmas Eve

A rare black rhino calf born at the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan, on Tuesday. Photo: Courtesy of Potter Park Zoo

The Sumatran rhinoceros has become extinct in Malaysia

The species has now almost disappeared from the wild, and conservationists estimate that only about 30 to 80 Sumatran rhinos survive, mostly on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. File photo: Reuters

Scientists fertilise eggs from last two northern white rhinos on Earth in bold bid to save species from extinction

Najin, one of the last two female northern white rhinos on Earth. Photo: AFP

Najin, 30, and her offspring Fatu (unseen), 19, two female northern white rhinos, the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, graze in their secured paddock on August 23, 2019 at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, 147 kilometres north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA / AFP)

A handout image made available by the Ol Pejeta Conservancy on August 23, 2019, shows Kenya Wildlife Service vet Dominic Mijele (3rd L) and Ol Pejeta's vet Stephen Ngulu standing next to Fatu, 19, one of the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, in an enclosure at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, in central Kenya on August 21, 2019. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23, 2019. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by Ami Vitale / Ol Pejeta Conservancy / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Ol Pejeta Conservancy/ Ami VITALE" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVI

TOPSHOT - A handout image made available by the Ol Pejeta Conservancy on August 23, 2019, shows Professor Robert Hermes (L), Professor Thomas Hildebrandt (C) and Dr. Susanne Holtze (R) all from Leibniz-IZW, as they perform a procedure to remove eggs from the ovaries of female northern white rhino Fatu one of the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet, in an enclosure at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, in central Kenya on August 22, 2019. - Veterinarians have successfully harvested eggs from the last two surviving northern white rhinos, taking them one step closer to bringing the species back from the brink of extinction, scientists said in Kenya on August 23, 2019. Science is the only hope for the northern white rhino after the death last year of the last male, named Sudan, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya where the groundbreaking procedure was carried out August 22, 2019. (Photo by Ami Vitale / Ol Pejeta Conservancy / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP P

A monitor displays the inseminating of eggs from the last two remaining female of northern white rhinos with frozen sperm from two rhino bulls of the same species, at the Avantea laboratory in Cremona, Italy, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019. The northern white rhino is on the verge of extinction but Sunday's operation raises hopes that they'll survive. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Outrage as visitors scratch names into rhino’s back at French zoo

Photos of the rhino with words on its back were widely shared on social media. Photo: Twitter

News

World

United States & Canada


Calf appears healthy and has been bonding ‘behind the scenes’ with mother, Doppsee
Fewer than two black rhino calves are born annually in captivity, zoo officials



Fewer than two black rhino calves are born annually in captivity, zoo officials.


Christmas

Animals

Meet the ‘miracle’ black rhino baby born on Christmas Eve

Calf appears healthy and has been bonding ‘behind the scenes’ with mother, Doppsee Fewer than two black rhino calves are born annually in captivity, zoo officials

Calf appears healthy and has been bonding ‘behind the scenes’ with mother, Doppsee

Fewer than two black rhino calves are born annually in captivity, zoo officials