Wilds welcomes another adorable rhino calf
The Wilds grew its herd of greater one-horned rhinoceroses by one more this month.
Sanya, an experienced mother, gave birth to a female calf on Aug. 16, continuing the conservation center’s legacy of successfully breeding a species that nearly went extinct in the 1970s.
This month’s calf is the ninth greater one-horned rhino born at The Wilds, a 10,000-acre park managed by the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. It is located in Cumberland, about 70 miles southeast of Columbus.
Sanya, who was born at the Toronto Zoo in 1999, came to The Wilds in 2004 and has given birth to six of those calves . The most recent calf’s father is Jahi, who was born at Zoo Tampa in 2011. He arrived at The Wilds from the Central Florida Zoo in 2017.
Jahi has since moved to a facility in Florida earlier this year, according to a statement.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums recommends breeding pairs for atrisk and endangered species, which is why Jahi moved. Using Species Survival Plans, member zoos track the genetic history of animals and plan coordinators recommend the best mates, sometimes shuffling them between facilities. The Columbus Zoo and The Wilds are both longtime members of the association.
The Wilds houses five greater onehorned rhinos and is one of 19 accredited facilities in North America to care for the species.
The facility is open daily through September and on weekends only through October.
Greater one-horned rhinos were once endangered, with fewer than 100 individuals left in the wild, but the species since been upgraded to “vulnerable,” according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are more than 3,700 greater one-horned living in the species’ native ranges of India and Nepal.
Rhinos of all kinds are often killed by poachers that collect their horns. Their habitats are also being impacted by invasive grasses and weather extremes like flooding caused by climate change. awidmanneese@dispatch.com @Alissawidman