Black Rhino Calf Born on Christmas Day

Aspinall Foundation staff at the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park were over the moon on Christmas morning when a critically endangered Black Rhino Calf called Nyota was born. Born at 6.20am, the calf was named after the Swahili for ‘star’, and what a proper little Christmas cracker she is!

Weighing in at a whopping 40kg, Nyota will spend up to two years suckling her mother’s milk. This year’s extra special Christmas present brings the number of Black Rhinos within the Aspinall Foundation houses up to 20, the largest breeding herd outside of Africa. Mother, Vuya, and daughter are both doing well after an anxious wait over the Christmas period for head keeper Paul Beer.

Paul said –

Both mum and baby are doing really well and the calf is very curious about her new surroundings. A new arrival for the Port Lympne Black rhino herd is always fantastic news, and all the keepers were extremely pleased with our Christmas surprise. It has been a tense wait but we had cctv installed in Vuyu’s shed so we were able to keep a really close eye on her. Vuyu can be very grumpy til she has eaten her breakfast, but is always a very good mum, and has the heaviest calves of any of our rhinos.

Vuyu was first donated by the South African National Park and is now a proud grandmother, as one of her daughters has since had a calf of her own after being sent back to the wild. Nyota is Vuyu’s fourth baby, with the Aspinall Foundation’s Kent parks having now bred an amazing 26 calves to date. Of these, 5 have been taken back into protected areas of the wild in Africa to help natural breeding.

Congratulations to Paul and the rest of the staff on their surprise Christmas present this year, it certainly beats a pair of socks!