BABY ON BOARD
Dr. Natalie Mylniczenko, a Disney veterinarian who has been involved with the care of pregnant white rhinos Kendi, Jao and Lola, performs an ultrasound on Kendi. Disney announced the trio of pregnancies just in time for World Rhino Day.
Walt Disney World has some big news in honor of World Rhino Day (Sept. 22): Three of its white rhinoceroses are pregnant.
The three rhinos are in various stages of pregnancy: Kendi (who was the first rhino born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom) is due in October, Jao in fall 2021 and Lola in fall/winter 2021. This isn’t Disney’s first rodeo with rhino pregnancy. Animal Kingdom has welcomed 10 white rhino calves since the park opened in 1998, and two of those have been reintroduced to their country of origin, Uganda. But this is the first time the park has welcomed so many babies within a short timeframe.
“I think the excitement is the fact that we have three pregnant rhinos all in our herd, in our crash together,” said Dr. Scott Terrell, director of animal and science operations for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. “And the opportunity to share that on World Rhino Day is a pretty special time.”
Gestation lasts 16-18 months for rhinos, so Disney has known for quite some time about Kendi’s pregnancy, but Jao’s and Lola’s came as a surprise.
Dr. Natalie Mylniczenko, a Disney veterinarian whose been involved with the care of these pregnant animals, discovered Jao (who was not “hormonally appropriate”) was pregnant during an ultrasound.
“I was quite surprised to find a little baby sitting there because we had been trying to get her pregnant, and she had become pregnant,” Mylniczenko said. “So that was a little bit of a surprise, and a very pleasant one at that.”
Lola also had difficulty conceiving, and prior to starting hormonal manipulation, Mylniczenko saw something during an ultrasound.
“I wanted to go in and look just to make sure her reproductive tract was healthy, and there was one little tiny, tiny little vesicle that I found,” she said. “It was less than a centimeter, and so, we weren’t ready to call that one a pregnancy. But then we tracked her every week, and every week, it got a little bigger until we saw a tiny little rhino hiding in there.”
Terrell said a lot of science goes into monitoring reproduction and hormones of breeding animals as well as working with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan. But there’s also a lot of love and care that goes into breeding, he said.
“We are monitoring the pregnancies very regularly, through all the tools that a human would use … ” he said. “Of course, we go to them for the checkups, they don’t come to us, but the ultrasound, just like with a human baby, is a pretty magical thing because you can see the baby’s heartbeat and you can even make out the shape of a baby rhino at certain stages of the pregnancy.”
The rhinos are trained to voluntarily participate in their health care, receiving treats throughout ultrasounds and exams as a reward for partaking.
Mylniczenko said it’s been fun to have three pregnant rhinos, but it’s also been a lot of work.
“We’ve been doing ultrasounds fairly regularly on them, and so that’s been taking just chunks of time in order to do that,” she said. “It ’s been really worthwhile because now we can not only identify the pregnancy there, but also monitor fetal health, just to make sure that everybody’s doing very well.”
These pregnancy journeys have allowed Mylniczenko to grow closer to the rhinos as well as Animal Kingdom keepers.
“Not only do we have these amazing keeper staff that take care of these animals, but they’ve trained the rhinos to tolerate and to accept my presence,” she said. “And to see [the rhinos] have these little tiny rhinoceroses inside of them, which are then going to grow into 200-pound babies, has just been awesome.”
All three babies are fathered by Dugan, who was previously “not represented” in the rhino population.
“It was really, really important for him to breed,” Mylniczenko said. “When he came here, he was pretty naïve … so it kind of took a little bit of time for him to figure things out. But once he did, then we’ve been truly quite successful and lucky.”
There are five types of rhinos in the world, and all are either endangered or heading toward endangered status, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Both Mylniczenko and Terrell emphasized the importance of successful breeding for endangered species.
“As with all of our endangered species that we work with at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, every birth is important,” he said, noting that there are less than 100 Sumatran and Javan rhinos on the planet, while there are about 18,000 white rhinos left. “When you consider the size of Africa and just how special these animals are, the idea that we have only 18,000 of them left is tragic.”
Disney’s efforts to save endangered species extend beyond the boundaries of Animal Kingdom.
“When you think about the Disney Conservation Fund, rhinos are really a fantastic example of a commitment of over $2 million over the past 20 years, 80 projects, 10 different countries. And there’s a good chance that we wouldn’t have Sumatran rhinos on the planet if not for the efforts of the Disney Conservation Fund and other conservation organizations,” Terrell said. “It’s wonderful for the animals here at the park. It’s wonderful for our guests and our cast. But it really is about protecting these animals around the world.”
Those who want to learn more about Disney’s rhino breeding program can tune in to the “Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom,” which debuts Sept. 25 on Disney Plus.
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