ESCONDIDO, CA – A southern white rhino has been born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido – the zoo’s first following artificial insemination.
Victoria, a southern white rhino who became pregnant through artificial insemination, gave birth to the male calf shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday in the barn at the Nikita Kahn Rhino Rescue Center, according to the zoo. The calf is the 186th rhino born at the Safari Park, and the first southern white rhino born by artificial insemination in North America.
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“All of us at San Diego Zoo Global are elated with the arrival of this special rhino calf,” said Barbara Durrant, the zoo’s director of reproductive sciences.
“We are so pleased Victoria and the calf are doing well. She is very attentive to her baby, and the calf is up and walking, and nursing frequently. Not only are we thankful for a healthy calf, but this birth is significant, as it also represents a critical step in our effort to save the northern white rhino from the brink of extinction.”
Victoria was the first rhino in San Diego Zoo Global’s 103-year history to become pregnant through artificial insemination. Her pregnancy was part of a larger effort to save the northern white rhino, a relative of the southern white rhino.
There are only two northern white rhinos alive in the world and both are female. Researchers hope to bring the species back from the brink of extinction by using stem cells and preserved cells from a dozen northern white rhinos to birth a rhino calf in the next 10 to 15 years, using southern white rhinos as surrogates. If the plan proves successful, researchers could attempt similar assisted reproduction techniques with the critically endangered Sumatran and Javan rhinos.
After 16 months of gestation, Victoria’s labor only lasted about 30 minutes, zoo officials said. The calf weighed about 125 pounds at birth.
Zoo officials previously announced that a second southern white rhino named Amani is pregnant. Her baby is expected to be born in November or December.
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