City’s zoo helping to save the rhino

The rhinoceros is the second largest land mammal after the elephant. On March 19, Sudan, the world’s last known male northern white rhino, died in Kenya. Two females at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya are protected roundthe-clock by armed guards.

There are five kinds of rhino — white, black, greater one-horned (Indian), Sumatran and Javan. Of the white rhinos, there are two subspecies, the northern white rhinoceros and the southern white rhinoceros. The Javan rhino is the most threatened of the five main types, with just 58-68 individuals living in Indonesia.

Since 2007, two southern white rhinos have been living in Shanghai Zoo’s rhino pavilion, Qiangqiang, a male, and female Amei both came from South Africa at the age of 3.

To distinguish the two, Qiangqiang has a small hole on his right ear.

Geng Guangyao has been taking care of the two southern white rhinos since 2017. Previously he was working with the elephants.

“The name white rhino is actually a mistranslation from the Dutch word ‘wijd,’ which means ‘wide’ in English but was misinterpreted into ‘white,’ so the rhinos with the wide mouth became white rhino,” Geng said.

The white rhino is not only the largest species of rhino, but is also quite social and gentle. When Geng walks near the back gate of the rhinos’ enclosure, Qiangqiang immediately comes over to him.

The white rhino has a wide mouth to graze food, which works almost like a mower, said Geng. When the rhino eats in the wild, it can raze the grassland to the ground. The rhino relies on smell to locate food, so Qiangqiang is able to pick up a small piece of apple on the ground easily.

Qiangqiang, who weighs around 2.5 tons, is much stronger and healthier than Amei, who is often ill. Amei weighs around 2 tons.

In 2010, a short documentary was produced to tell the story of how Amei’s ailment was treated. Amei still has scars from the skin disease, which was healed by adding antiseptics to the mud and pouring that onto her skin.

“Amei was quite ill, at one point she was scared of needles because of the blood drawings and transfusions, and would run away from people,” said Geng.

The zookeepers are training the rhinos to receive medical examinations voluntarily, and regular body checks enable zoo keepers to monitor their health more easily.

Amei can walk into a room and allow Geng to draw blood from her ear without backing away or panicking. Geng has also made a large brush to scratch Amei’s skin, which