News

18 August 2009

Rhino’s Arrival Breeds Hope

Moving home is always one of life’s biggest tasks, but when you’ve got two 1,700kg rhino coming to take up permanent residence it’s a truly heavyweight affair.

New Rhino - August 2009

The South African white rhino - believed to be 5 and 6 years old - moved into the rhinoceros equivalent of The Ritz at Woburn Safari Park on Monday 17th August …with a little help from some very heavy lifting gear of course.

But while the arrival of the two formidable females will be great for visitors to Woburn, it has far greater significance for Europe’s white rhino population as they are expected to play a vital part in a continental breeding programme.

The pair will join the park’s four-strong rhino herd which consists of two males and two females; some of whom have lived at Woburn since it first opened nearly 40 years ago. Despite the equal male/female split of the resident rhino, they have never bred as it is thought they have come to see each other as siblings rather than potential breeding partners.

However, the introduction of the two new females, together with a young bull from another UK safari park, is hoped to provide the necessary spark to let nature take its course - that is, after 30 days in quarantine and a gradual socialisation process with the other rhino.

Dr Jake Veasey, Woburn’s head of animal management and conservation, says: “Having more than one bull rhino is critical for creating the optimal social situation needed for stimulating breeding with males vying for interest from the females. We will now have three males and four females so the chances of breeding will be dramatically improved.

“White rhino are what would be described as a conservation-dependent species, meaning that without effective and active conservation measures they would become extinct in the wild. At the turn of the 20th century there may have been as few as 30 white rhino left; and now with effective conservation, most notably in South Africa, there are in excess of 17,000.

“But as they only occur in protected areas and space is limited, surplus animals maybe culled to alleviate the pressure on habitats and to raise revenue to support ongoing conservation. An alternative is for these surplus animals to come to join ‘insurance’ populations outside of Africa which could help to ensure the future of the species, and in turn help to raise the profile of these amazing animals.

“The white rhino population in Europe is currently not self-sustaining - one of the reasons for this is the historical mismanagement of white rhino social groups with too many rhino growing up together and so establishing sibling rather than sexual relationships in captivity. This combined with a lack of facilities holding multiple bulls to stimulate competition for mates meant that whilst captive rhino typically lived remarkably long lives, not enough of them went on to breed to replace the loss of older animals.”

The new Woburn rhino house, which is described as the best in the world, is expected to play a pivotal role in rectifying this situation. The facility, designed by Dr Veasey and his team, has been created to allow the rhino to live in herds as they would in the wild, even inside the house.

The house has several unique features such as a huge communal living area and four additional management areas with a choice of floor surfaces for the rhino from concrete, rubber through to half-metre deep woodchip beds. The house complex also has three yards, a medical restraint chute for the treatment of any ailments that may arise in their long lives and two outside paddocks totalling over 40 acres.