Breeding female joins the crash

A four year old breeding female Eastern black rhino has recently joined our zoo family from Chester Zoo as part of the endangered species breeding programme. Dakima joins 18 year old Manyara and six year old Nkosi in our Kifaru Reserve enclosure.

Dakima currently weighs around 950kg with lots of growing still to do. A fully grown adult rhino can weigh up to 1.5 tonnes (similar to the weight of a car – wowzers!).

She’s been enjoying exploring her new, state of the art enclosure and bespoke house and has already formed a special bond with our older female Manyara.

Although rhinos tend to live quite solitary lives in the wild, Dakima has been sharing an enclosure with Manyara as they have become best pals – and we’re hoping that one day in the future we can introduce her to Nkosi, our breeding male.

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Our rhino keeper, Jack Gradidge, is thrilled with how well she’s getting on:

[Pullout]”We’re hoping to put her in with Nkosi once she’s settled into her new home, and in time we hope they will breed – but that’s still a few years away at the moment.”[/Pullout]

Dakima’s arrival is an exciting one – with fewer than 650 Eastern black rhino left in the wild and just 88 in zoos across Europe, we are only the seventh zoo in the UK to hold this critically endangered species. We’re hoping Nkosi and Dakima will hit it off when they finally get introduced and we’re hopeful that we may hear the pitter patter of little rhino feet one day in the future!