First Look At The Adorable Baby Rhino Born At Toronto Zoo

[AngelOfThyNight]

First Look At The Adorable Baby Rhino Born At Toronto Zoo

 

 
 

An adorable baby Indian rhino has been born at the Toronto Zoo, giving hope to the threatened species.

 

The male calf was born to 11-year-old mom Ashakiran and 12-year-old dad Vishnu late Wednesday night.

 

Zoo staff hailed the birth as an important moment as they announced it on Friday. Indian rhinos are listed as "vulnerable" and there are only around 2,000-3,000 left in the wild.

 

 

Welcome to the world little one. Our Indian rhino Ashakiran gave birth to a male calf on 02/17. The calf appears to be healthy and feeding well, but the first 30 days are critical and staff will continue to monitor them both closely. #TORhinoBaby #TObabyboom #savingspecies

A photo posted by Toronto Zoo (@thetorontozoo) on Feb 19, 2016 at 4:06am PST

 

 
 

"The calf appears to be healthy and feeding well," the zoo said in a post on Instagram. "But the first 30 days are critical and staff will continue to monitor them both closely."

 

The Toronto Sun reports that this is Ashakiran's first surviving calf, as she has previously had trouble maintaining pregnancy and gave birth to a stillborn in 2011. 

 

 

 
 

To maintain this pregnancy, she was given oral progesterone through a partnership with Cincinnati Zoo.

 

The rhino calf, who has not yet been named, is the first to be born at the zoo since August 1999. Mom and son are currently not on display to the public.

 

The zoo has also welcomed several other newborns in recent months, including a polar bear and giant panda twins.

 

 

 

Also on HuffPost:

 

 

 

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: First Look At The Adorable Baby Rhino Born At Toronto Zoo