An adorable one-horned baby female rhino is making her public debut at the Bronx Zoo's Wild Asia exhibit, where she'll join her parents Penny and Sanjay.
The rhino calf, who hasn't yet been named, was born weighing 120 pounds but could grow to be a thunderous 4,000 pounds as an adult. She's the 13th Indian rhino born at the Bronx Zoo since 1986.
A rhino’s skin resembles armor plating, but it is more sensitive than it appears. Rhinos frequently spend time in mud wallows to cool their skin and regulate their body temperature. The mud works to protect their skin from the sun.
The rhino’s horn is made of compressed kerotin fibers, the same substance that makes up hair and fingernails in humans.
Indian rhinos are native to the grasslands and swampy areas of northern India and southern Nepal. Fewer than 3,000 are estimated to remain in the wild, with nearly 70 percent of the population living in Kaziranga National Park in India. They are generally solitary animals except when mating or when females have young offspring.
Indian rhinos are designated as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and as “endangered” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
To visit the new baby rhino or learn more about the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo exhibits, visit bronxzoo.com or call (718) 367-1010.
