At three weeks old, a Greater One-horned Rhino calf at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park has no problem with the super-sized bottle wielded by a zoo keeper.  This little Rhino gulps down a bottle every two hours and gains almost four pounds each day.

Born on November 27, the male calf, who has not yet been named, was cared for by his mother for almost two weeks, but he was not gaining weight as he should.  To provide the calf with the optimal care to thrive, he was taken to the Safari Park’s animal care center where he is watched around-the-clock, bottle-fed every two hours, and taken outdoors for exercise each day.

After only a week in the nursery, the little Rhino is growing:  he weighed 160 pounds at birth and currently weighs 190 pounds.  Adult Rhinos weigh between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds.

Once widespread in Southeast Asia, the Greater One-horned Rhinoceros is now found only in India and Nepal. This species is listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to poaching threats. There are an estimated 3,250 Greater One-horned Rhinos remaining in the wild. This calf is the 68th Greater One-horned Rhino born at the Safari Park since 1975, making the Park the foremost breeding facility in the world for this species. 

Photo Credit:  Ken Bohn, San Diego Zoo Safari Park