SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - It’s a girl! Zoo Miami has announced the newest addition to their rhinoceros family is a female.
The greater Indian one-horned rhino was born on April 23 but made her first public appearance at a gender reveal event Friday morning.
She has been bonding with her mother in seclusion and learning to navigate around her enclosure prior to her reveal.
“The care that they give these animals and the attention that they give to make sure the species continues is amazing,” said Reclaimed Earth Incorporated founder Yvette Ayala.
With a crowd of attendees watching, her father Suru approached a box with pink and blue question marks on it and tipped it over, revealing a pink ball to announce the baby rhino’s gender.
“We were going to have him come out to his favorite treats in a box,” said Zoo Miami’s Communications Director Ron Magill, “and inside of the box we had all of the color of what the gender the baby was. Hope was that he was going to see his favorite treats and go right to it, but of course he came out and he sees all these people out there and kind of pffft, looked at us like I don’t want to do that.”
Her mother Akuti came out shortly after with her highly anticipated baby.
“This is certainly the most important birth of the year here at the zoo,” said Magill.
The baby has already made history as the first successful birth of a greater one-horned Indian rhinoceros from induced ovulation and artificial insemination.
Magill said the baby girl has not yet been named but donors who contribute to the baby rhino have the possibility of naming her.
There are less than 3,000 Indian rhinos left in the world due to poaching.
“It’s a great insurance police against a very uncertain future in the wild. Being able to have babies like this born is a great insurance policy,” said Magill.
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