PRAGUE (AP) — A zoo in the Czech Republic welcomed an eastern black rhino calf named after the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, in honor of the country's resistance to the invasion of Russia.
The black rhino, which is a threatened species, was born on March 4 at the Dvur Kralove Zoo, an unusual occurrence in the facilities even if they are the ones with the most rhinos of the subspecies.
“The name is another sign of our support for Ukrainian heroes,” said Premysl Rabas, director of the zoo.
His mother, Eva, has taken care of him in the best possible way, the zoo said. The calf has gained 1 kilogram (2.20 pounds) a day. It currently weighs about 50 kilograms (110 pounds).
Hunting has reduced the number of free-living eastern black rhinos to about 800. The Czech zoo has 14.
Only three rhinos have been born in other zoos around the world in the last year.
A total of 47 specimens of the eastern black rhino have been born in Dvur Kralove since the park received the first one in 1971.
Many of them are now in other zoos around the world, but nine have returned to Rwanda and Tanzania to live in freedom.