Horned and ready Horned and ready

Ramat Gan Safari welcomes baby white rhino

Calf born to mother Keren Peles, 6, is healthy and suckling; is the 27th rhinoceros born at the site

By ToI Staff 25 August 2015, 1:21 am

Edit

A newborn square-lipped rhinoceros is seen with her six-year old-mother, Keren Peles, at the Ramat Gan Safari zoo near Tel Aviv on August 24, 2015. (AFP PHOTO/MENAHEM KAHANA)

Six-year-old white rhinoceros Keren Peles gave birth to a female calf at the Ramat Gan Safari on Monday. The newborn was said to be healthy and almost immediately stood up and began suckling.

The father, 35-year-old Atari, seemed “very happy,” the safari said in a statement, and he and the infant rhino took to each other immediately.

The calf, which has not yet been named, is the 27th rhino born at the safari, which belongs to an international consortium of zoos working to pull the white rhino back from the verge of extinction.

In September 2014, the safari welcomed a female rhino, the first in 20 years. At the time, the new arrival caused quite a stir, as it was announced that unlike the males, she would stay at the safari to continue the line. Another rhino was born to the same mother, Tendra, in 2012.

Keren Peles recently made headlines when she, and buddy rhinos Rihanna and Karnivala briefly slipped out of the safari, alarming some nearby joggers.