Good news, but... The calf will remain behind the scenes in Toyota Elephant Passage for at least six to eight weeks to give her ample time to bond with Tensing under the watchful eye of their care team. Provided that the weather is right, rhinoceros and elphant calves in Germany come into the outdoor area 1 or 2 days after birth .... even if Mum is a first-time mother.... I have no idea, bu is there still natural breeding with any animal in the US ?
I think they’re just being extra cautious being that it is also the first time the zoo has bred the species. Also the weather has been hovering around 25-40°F in Colorado recently so not super ideal for a newborn rhino. The zoo tried breeding Tensing with resident male, Bandhu but they have never been successful.
I actually agree with you here, @Bib Fortuna ! In many North American zoos, baby elephants, rhinos, tapirs, big cats, bears, etc., are kept behind the scenes for months. Europe is the complete opposite, letting young animals roam outside within a few days. There is very much a laissez faire attitude in Europe in that zoos let captive animals do what they want. That results in hundreds of walk-through exhibits of all different kinds (I was in an enclosure with Wisent last summer!) and baby animals are seen almost immediately by the public. In North America everyone is extra careful, with additional barriers around crocodilian pools or not letting the public interact with primates, or keeping baby animals inside for months.
This, to me, is a pointless comment. While it may be true, who cares? Being cautious shouldn't be viewed as a bad thing. As Echobeast said, Colorado's current climate isn't ideal for a young rhino, so why would they risk any potential fatalities? Having control over animals in captivity, in my opinion, isn't a bad thing. Having extra barriers around crocodilian exhibits is a lot safer. Imagine the lawsuit the zoo would face if someone got injured. Allowing the public to interact with primates isn't logical. Imagine how many people would pass through the enclosure could potentially pass illnesses to the primates, or have the primates pass illnesses to them.
A lot of what you say makes sense from a North American perspective, but when I spent a month last summer in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, the number of walk-through primate exhibits was astonishing. At various zoos I went from macaques to squirrel monkeys to lemurs to saki monkeys to red howler monkeys, etc. In Europe it was at times difficult to find a zoo that did not have a walk-through primate exhibit. At one zoo in Germany, the all-male troop of Barbary Macaques bite at least one person a year (always an individual with food - which isn't allowed) and the zoo has never been sued. People get bitten by monkeys in German zoos and move on with their life. In the U.S. there would be piles of lawsuits in all directions.
Well, I am well aware that the current weather in Colorado is not ideal for a rhinoceros calf - even in Germany a rhinoceros calf would not come into the outdoor area after 1 or 2 days, so, as I wrote, only if Weather permits it- in spring and summer, not fall and winter) Unless there is good reason to do so, it is not necessary at all to keep a rhino calf 6-8 weeks behind the scenes. This is completely exaggerated and is not the case across Europe. Typical for US zoos ... and that's not to say, because I'm against precautionary measures, on the contrary. In the case of rhino or elephant births in winter, the houses in Europe are closed for a few days to give mother and Calf the necessary rest. But they do not put them completely 8 weeks away ...
In that case you just swap the bulls or the cow ...zoos did that in the past-before the dark times, before the empire.. Äh...before A.I.
I wanted to express exactly what you wrote in my post. It is absolute nonsense. Animals are totally pampered there. But there is also the opposite case. In Germany, great apes always have the opportunity to switch between inside and outside in summer. As a result, in some zoos, even in summer, no apes can be seen in the outdoor areas. Take Frankfurt for example. Since the outdoor facilities for gorillas have existed since 2010, despite countless visits there, I have only seen gorillas outside for a short time 3 times. If you saw them outside, you were very lucky. This is because the silverback Viatu grew up in Basel - without outside facilities, he did not know that. If he doesn't go out, the females usually don't, or only for a short time. Now gorillas can also be trained to using the outdoor area. For Example teh famous Willie B. in Atlanta. It's all just a matter of getting used to. You can achieve an incredible amount with feed. In the United States, I have always seen gorillas in the outdoor exhibits all day, you can't do that in Germany. I am of the opinion that, provided that the outdoor area is large and designed, that is, it also offers sufficient protection against rain and sun, it is absolutely okay if the animals are locked out by the hour in good weather. Even the sensitive gorillas receive no psychological damage if they cann ot go in for a few hours in summer. In principle, Frankfurt could use its outdoor gorilla exhibit for other animals, because, as is the case at the moment, it is useless. Where were been in an exhibit together with a Wisent? Not in Germany...
Well the father who is at Henry Doorly Zoo just sired another calf there naturally last year. This way they got twice the calves with one male without needing to move rhinos. I think this is an amazing opportunity for rhinos in general as calves can be born thousands of miles away from a male. That male can sire multiple calves in a shorter amount of time compared to natural insemination which requires both male and female to be at the same facility. In the future if the right permissions can be granted, it may allow for genetics from across the world to be shared and keep diversity high. in my opinion AI is the start of many great opportunities that weren’t possible in the past.
In the Netherlands, at Natuurpark Lelystad, there is a walk-through exhibit with Wisent and Przewalski's Horses together...plus me last summer!
The rhino housing at Denver also doesn’t have indoor guest viewing so the time frame may also be to allow the calf to grow to the point where keepers are comfortable putting it on exhibit. If you haven’t seen Denver’s exhibits, they are quite large with only cable fencing and deep pools.
The Indian rhino calf has been named ‘‘Joona.’’ Her name is Nepalese and means "joyful in nature" or "treasure." The other contenders for her name were "Pemba" and "Talli." The winning name received about 30,000 votes. VIDEO: Denver Zoo names its baby rhino
