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ATLANTA — Zoo Atlanta just welcomed the cutest Christmas miracle: a baby rhino.
The southern white rhinoceros — the first to be born at that zoo — arrived on Dec. 24. The calf, whose species is near threatened, is healthy and strong and receiving "appropriate maternal care" from its mother, park officials said Monday.
This also is only the second rhino to be born at the zoo — the other being an eastern black rhino in 2013, a news release said.
While the zoo did not share further information about the calf, it said white rhino newborns can weigh between 100 to 150 pounds at birth, making them one of the "animal kingdom's largest terrestrial mammal babies."
The newborn's parents — 22-year-old mother Kiazi and 12-year-old father Mumbles — met at the zoo in early 2022, and park staff detected the pregnancy in spring 2023. The calf and its mother will continue to bond before entering the rhino habitat, the zoo said.
"The Zoo Atlanta family is beyond excited about the birth of Kiazi's calf. This birth has been long-awaited news for many months," said Raymond B. King, Zoo Atlanta's president and CEO.
The potential connection that zoo guests can create with the new calf and its mother could translate into "conservation action," King said.
"All rhino species are currently in peril, and as stewards of this brand-new ambassador here in Atlanta, we also have a responsibility to do all we can to raise awareness of the status of wild rhinos," King said.
Southern white rhinos are classified as "near threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. And their population trend is decreasing, according to the organization.
"While poaching for their horns is a serious issue for all rhinos and has already resulted in the extinctions and near-extinctions of some species, southern white rhinos are especially vulnerable because they often travel in herds in the wild, a behavior that makes it easier for poachers to locate them," Zoo Atlanta said.
"Powdered rhino horn is believed by some cultures to possess medical properties, although rhino horns are made of keratin — the same substance found in human hair and fingernails — and have no known medicinal value," it added.
The zoo also received another female southern white rhinoceros in October, 17-year-old Dakari, the release said.
