A New Hope: Southern White Rhino Calf Born at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

World -- welcome the birth of a southern white rhino calf, born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park's Nikita Rhino Rescue Center!

The calf was born on Aug. 6, conceived through natural breeding and born to first-time mom Livia and father J Gregory.

The calf is "healthy, confident and full of energy" according to wildlife care specialists. Livia is an excellent mother, very attentive and protective of her offspring, the zoo said.

"Seeing this energetic little rhino running around, wallowing in the mud and just being generally curious is very rewarding,” said Jonnie Capiro, lead wildlife care specialist at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

“While this is the first time Livia has given birth, we expected she would be a great mother—and she proves this every day,” Capiro added. First-time mother Livia had cared for an orphaned calf named Arthur before. After Arthur arrived at the Rhino Rescue Center in 2020, Livia had immediately taken interest in the calf and showed maternal instincts toward little Arthur.

The birth of this southern white rhino brings hope to the revitalization of the critically-endangered northern white rhino breed. The last male northern white rhino died in March 2018, leaving only two northern white rhinos in existence, both of which are female and unable to reproduce naturally. Both those rhinos live in a wildlife conversancy in Kenya.

“All rhino births are significant, and this calf’s birth represents an essential step in San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Northern White Rhino Initiative, showing Livia can carry a calf to term and care for her offspring,” said Barbara Durrant, Ph.D., director of reproductive sciences at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

Livia's maternal capacity is regarded as vitally important as she is now among the female rhinos at the Center who could potentially serve in the future as a surrogate mother to a northern white embryo, Durrant added.

The Alliance's Northern White Rhino Initiative has been trying to save the critically endangered northern white rhino species through reproductive technologies like artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

Wildlife care teams have been working with reproductive physiologists and geneticists to use southern white rhinos as a model for creating advanced reproductive technologies -- with the ultimate goal of establishing a sustainable population of northern white rhinos.

The Alliance hopes to also use successful methods to conserve other critically endangered species like the Sumatran and Javan rhinos.

Livia and her calf will stay in their private habitat for a period of time so they can bond. At some point, the calf will be introduced to other rhinos at the Center, including young Arthur.

Around 18,000 southern white rhinos exist in native habitats worldwide and are classified as Near Threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species because of poaching threats for illegal trafficking of rhino horns. Estimates say a rhino is killed every eight hours in South Africa due to poaching.