A NEW ADDITION AT PAIGNTON ZOO
| Published: 9th March 2007 15:26 |
A RARE BLACK RHINO HAS BEEN BORN IN PAIGNTON ZOO
After a 15-month pregnancy - and in the full glare of the watching world - Sita the Paignton Zoo black rhino has given birth to a calf.
Sita started going into labour at around 7.40pm GMT on Monday 5 March, and the baby emerged around half an hour later.
The amazing scenes were watched by thousands of people all over the world, using the webcam on the BBC Devon website.
Rhino-watchers have been keeping watch on Sita day and night for weeks.
Sita paced around her den restlessly in the hours leading up to the birth, giving an indication the big moment was imminent.
Sure enough, at 8.10pm, the calf appeared. After a shaky start the baby girl is doing well. And it's a very special little girl because 75 per cent of black rhinos born in captivity are male.
It took her over five hours to find her feet and a further hour to take her first feed from her mum.
At around 1am on Tuesday keepers at Paignton Zoo had to coax Sita to a safe area away from her calf so they could get into the enclosure to take a closer look.
After checking the calf was healthy they were able to move her to a newly laid bed of straw.
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