The baby rhino has been called “Kyiv” in honour of all the Ukrainian defenders and was born in a Czech zoo one week after Russia’s invasion began.
Kyiv is a member of the Eastern black rhinoceros subspecies and the birth is a testament to the hard work of the zoo as they are one of the very few worldwide with a successful breeding program for these rhinos.
This young rhino is the 47th of its highly endangered subspecies to be born in the Dvur Kralove Zoo since they started the programme back in 1971 and is the first one to be born in around four years.
Eva, Kyiv’s mother has been taking very good care of him, she has even allowed some of her milk to be taken to feed other youngsters according to an update from the zoo. He is gaining 1KG (2.20 pounds) per day and currently weighs 50KG (110 pounds).
There have only been three other Rhinos from the same subspecies born in the last year.
Over the years the zoo animals have been transferred to other zoos to help ensure genetic diversity and a total of nine rhinos have been reintroduced to the wild in Rwanda and Tanzania.
According to the most recent update from IUCN’s Red List, the rhino numbers are increasing faster than decreasing.
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