She's Only Just Begun
Here is a 3-month-old Baby Rhino that was rescued after being found wandering without its mother in the Serengeti.
The baby rhino’s skin was injured before being rescued necessitating a blanket to protect it from the Sun. The caretakers also cover the baby with dirt to protect it from flies, etc.
The baby will reside in a wildlife animal shelter until old enough to be released back into the wild.
A rhinoceros commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of the odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of the species are native to Africa, and three to South and Southeast Asia.
Rhinoceroses are some of the largest remaining megafauna: all weigh at least one ton in adulthood. They have a herbivorous diet, small brains for mammals of their size, one or two horns, and a thick protective skin formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure.
They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter when necessary.
The two African species of rhinoceros lack teeth at the front of their mouths; they rely instead on their lips to pluck food.
Rhinoceroses are killed by poachers for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market for high prices, leading to most living rhinoceros species being considered endangered.
A baby rhino is surely one of Africa’s most adorable inhabitants. Seeing one practicing its charge will put a smile on anyone’s face – unless its mother is following suit and heading in your direction!
If a baby rhino survives its early years, it will grow into one of Africa’s largest and toughest animals, with a pair of magnificent horns. But there are still challenges ahead, and its distinguishing feature puts it at risk from poachers.
Mothers of both species give birth to a single calf, after a 15-month (black rhinos) or 16-month (white rhinos) gestation period. A black rhino calf weighs around 35-50 kg, while the larger white rhino gives birth to a 40-65 kg baby.
Like any mammal, a baby rhino needs its mother’s milk to grow big and strong. Rhino milk is quite unusual in that it’s extremely low in fat.
This could be because of the mother’s long lactation period – calves may continue to suckle for a year or more. Therefore, producing calorie and nutrient-dense milk would be too much of a strain.
Before calves are fully weaned, they must prepare their bodies for their adult diet. Specifically, their digestive systems, which lack the bacteria to digest vegetation at birth. How do they get these bacteria? By eating their mother’s dung!
This switch in a baby rhino’s diet doesn’t happen overnight. They must munch on dung for a few months to properly prepare their gut for a lifetime of grazing or browsing.
The young calf relies heavily on its mother for food and protection in its early months and years, while males play no part in the rearing of young. Baby rhinos will stay with their mother for two or three years, during which time she won’t mate with other males.
Rhino calves are born without horns. Look closely, and you can make out the stub from which the horn will grow. It doesn’t take long – within a couple of months it will start to appear, though it will be a long time before it looks anywhere near fully grown.
Rhino horns are not really ‘horns’ at all. They’re made of keratin, the same substance as our fingernails. Once the baby rhino’s horns begin to grow, they will keep growing throughout its life. This happens very slowly, at several centimetres per year.
With a rhino’s long lifespan, it means older individuals can have very long horns indeed. The record for a white rhino is 150 cm!
(Nikon Z, 100-400 @ 200 mm, 1/1600 @ f/5, ISO 800, processed to taste)
She's Only Just Begun
Here is a 3-month-old Baby Rhino that was rescued after being found wandering without its mother in the Serengeti.
The baby rhino’s skin was injured before being rescued necessitating a blanket to protect it from the Sun. The caretakers also cover the baby with dirt to protect it from flies, etc.
The baby will reside in a wildlife animal shelter until old enough to be released back into the wild.
A rhinoceros commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of the odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of the species are native to Africa, and three to South and Southeast Asia.
Rhinoceroses are some of the largest remaining megafauna: all weigh at least one ton in adulthood. They have a herbivorous diet, small brains for mammals of their size, one or two horns, and a thick protective skin formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure.
They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter when necessary.
The two African species of rhinoceros lack teeth at the front of their mouths; they rely instead on their lips to pluck food.
Rhinoceroses are killed by poachers for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market for high prices, leading to most living rhinoceros species being considered endangered.
A baby rhino is surely one of Africa’s most adorable inhabitants. Seeing one practicing its charge will put a smile on anyone’s face – unless its mother is following suit and heading in your direction!
If a baby rhino survives its early years, it will grow into one of Africa’s largest and toughest animals, with a pair of magnificent horns. But there are still challenges ahead, and its distinguishing feature puts it at risk from poachers.
Mothers of both species give birth to a single calf, after a 15-month (black rhinos) or 16-month (white rhinos) gestation period. A black rhino calf weighs around 35-50 kg, while the larger white rhino gives birth to a 40-65 kg baby.
Like any mammal, a baby rhino needs its mother’s milk to grow big and strong. Rhino milk is quite unusual in that it’s extremely low in fat.
This could be because of the mother’s long lactation period – calves may continue to suckle for a year or more. Therefore, producing calorie and nutrient-dense milk would be too much of a strain.
Before calves are fully weaned, they must prepare their bodies for their adult diet. Specifically, their digestive systems, which lack the bacteria to digest vegetation at birth. How do they get these bacteria? By eating their mother’s dung!
This switch in a baby rhino’s diet doesn’t happen overnight. They must munch on dung for a few months to properly prepare their gut for a lifetime of grazing or browsing.
The young calf relies heavily on its mother for food and protection in its early months and years, while males play no part in the rearing of young. Baby rhinos will stay with their mother for two or three years, during which time she won’t mate with other males.
Rhino calves are born without horns. Look closely, and you can make out the stub from which the horn will grow. It doesn’t take long – within a couple of months it will start to appear, though it will be a long time before it looks anywhere near fully grown.
Rhino horns are not really ‘horns’ at all. They’re made of keratin, the same substance as our fingernails. Once the baby rhino’s horns begin to grow, they will keep growing throughout its life. This happens very slowly, at several centimetres per year.
With a rhino’s long lifespan, it means older individuals can have very long horns indeed. The record for a white rhino is 150 cm!
(Nikon Z, 100-400 @ 200 mm, 1/1600 @ f/5, ISO 800, processed to taste)