West Midland Safari Park: Baby rhino's first moments with mum

CCTV has recorded the moment a baby southern white rhino was born at a safari park.

The female calf, who arrived during the night at West Midland Safari Park in Bewdley, Worcestershire, has been given the African name Malaika, meaning angel.

She is the sixth baby white rhino to be born there in the last eight years. The park said it marked another success for its involvement in a European breeding programme, conserving threatened species.

According to the attraction, southern white rhinos are classed as "near threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with about 16,000 remaining.

The park added the population of white rhinos had recovered greatly since almost becoming extinct in the early 1900s, but despite being "somewhat of a conservation success story", they were the subspecies most threatened by poaching.

Mother Keyah, 15, was "doing a fantastic job of caring for the newborn with older brother Jumani eager to meet his little sister".

18 January 2024