By Matt Campbell
The Kansas City Star
October 21, 2000
The Kansas City Zoo's baby rhino made her public debut this week
to plenty of "oohs" and "ahhs."
The calf of the endangered eastern black rhinoceros - weighing
an estimated 65 pounds at birth - already has grown to more than
250 pounds at less than two months old.
The baby, yet unnamed, nibbles at leaves and grain, mimicking mom,
but is still dependent on milk.
"She's filled out quite a bit," zookeeper Wendy Shaffstall
said Friday. "She's got muscles now. She is bulking up."
Tests by zoo veterinary staff on the baby and the mother, Luyisa,
show both are healthy.
The baby's horn started emerging at two weeks and already is about
an inch long.
On Friday, the baby scampered about the roomy zoo exhibit, wallowing
in mud, nosing at the brush and making high-pitched, nasal vocalizations.
But she never strayed far from mom. One zoo visitor asked why her
own children could not be so obedient.
The appearance of a rhino calf also has caught the attention of
other animals. Three lions and three cheetahs watched the potential
prey with great interest from their respective hillside exhibits.
The Species Survival Plan, a cooperative regime among conservationists,
will decide whether the baby rhino remains in Kansas City or is
someday sent to another zoo for breeding. Barring that, she will
remain in Kansas City, Shaffstall said.
Mother and baby will be on exhibit as long as the temperature stays
above 55 degrees and the weather remains relatively dry. The rhinos
usually are out from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. But they are
not forced onto exhibit if they prefer to stay in their barn.
The calf proved irresistible Friday to Hannah Enenbach, 9, of Kansas
City.
"I love her," she said wistfully, peering down from the
boardwalk. "I want a baby rhino."
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