Rare black rhinoceros, listed as critically endangered, born at Garden City zoo

A zoo in Garden City had its first birth of a black rhino.

The black rhinoceros, a male, was born Wednesday afternoon at Lee Richardson Zoo. He made “his first attempts to stand shortly after birth and first nursed four hours after entering the world,” the zoo said in a news release.

“Mother and baby will spend some private time indoors bonding until conditions are appropriate for them to go outside,” the release said. “Staff will be monitoring the calf’s growth and other developmental milestones as well as mom’s recovery and maternal behavior.”

Johari, the 10-year-old mother, and her 7-year-old mate Jabari were moved from zoos in Cleveland and Atlanta in 2016 as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Eastern Black Rhinoceros Species Survival Plan.

“Lee Richardson Zoo is proud to work with the other participants ... toward the goal of genetically and demographically healthy populations, the long-term sustainability of populations, and enhancing the conservation of the species in the wild through combined efforts and cooperative management of the population,” the release said.

Eastern black rhinos are native to eastern Africa and are listed as critically endangered, according to the release.

“They are the rarest of the three remaining black rhino subspecies with approximately 740 left in 2018,” the release said. “Poaching for their horn continues to be their biggest threat. Conservation and management efforts have resulted in a slow increase in population numbers in recent years.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 5:16 PM.