White rhino arrives in time for 2011
Keepers at a safari park are celebrating the birth of a second baby white rhino in just over a month.
The unnamed female rhino was born at Knowsley Safari Park in Merseyside, on December 30
The birth follows that of the rhino's half-brother Troy who was born at the end of November.
Keepers said the new baby and her 16-year-old mother Winnie are both doing well but will remain indoors for the moment because of the cold.
Knowsley chiefs say that as one of their other cows is heavily pregnant a third rhino baby should make an appearance early in 2011.
General manager David Ross said: "Everyone here is delighted at the arrival of our second rhino calf in a matter of weeks."
Mr Ross said keepers had not been able to weigh the calf but added: "New Year babies don't get much bigger than this. She's a really strapping calf - the biggest ever born here - so she'll be more than a match for Troy who is just along the corridor from her in our giant-sized maternity unit.
"The great thing is that, as they've been born at pretty much the same time, they'll be able to play together as they grow up.
"And if another calf is born successfully over the next couple of months the three big babies will be a fantastic attraction for visitors in what is our 40th anniversary year."
Mr Ross said Knowsley is now regarded as a European leader in terms of breeding this rare species.
The latest birth follows a gestation period which lasts from 485 to 515 days, with around 16 months in the womb.
The white rhino, which is much larger than its black relative, is the second largest land mammal in the world after the elephant. They can live for 40 years and when fully grown can weigh up to three tonnes.
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Daniel Smith - a long time ago, in a galaxy far away just north of Watford, Daniel fancied himself as a scientist but turned out to be the worst scientist since that bloke who mapped out all those canals on Mars that turned out to be scratches on his telescope's lens. Luckily, he is now not working on the Large Hadron Collider inadvertently creating a black hole that would swallow the world but is safely behind a desk writing this blog, bringing you the fantastical underbelly of nature... weird science.
