The San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s newest baby rhino has been receiving daily bottle feedings from zookeepers as part of her much-needed nutritional routine, zoo officials said Thursday.
Five-week-old rhino calf, Shomili – nicknamed “Mili” by keepers – gets daily bottle feedings because her mother, Sundari, has not been able to give the calf all of the nutrition she needs.
According to zookeepers, Sundari is a young mother and her milk is not coming in as expected. In order for Mili to continue growing, animal care experts decided to give the baby rhino a supplemental bottle feeding twice a day to make sure she gets all of the nutrition a young, healthy rhino requires.
With this daily bottle service, keepers say the rhino is on the right track.
Mili, who was born weighing 128 pounds on Dec. 13, is now a healthy 245 pounds. Keepers say she’s developing and growing as needed.
On Thursday, the photo above was taken at the zoo. It shows a keeper bottle feeding the baby rhino with a very large milk bottle.
