For the third time in three months, Lion Country Safari became the birthplace of a Southern White Rhinoceros.
On Aug. 6, a calf named Ruby was born to 7-year-old mother Blossom. She is the 39th calf born in Lion Country Safari since the year 1979.
Ruby is Blossom's first calf, according to a statement from Lion Country Safari. Rhino mothers like Blossom give birth to a single calf weighing between 88 and 132 pounds, the statement said. The calves are then expected to gain 3 to 4 pounds a day from their mother's milk, gaining about 1,000 pounds a year for the first three years.
Ruby and other members of her lineage are a part of the White Rhinoceros Species Survival Plan that intends to protect the species and others like it from extinction.
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In addition to the White Rhinoceros Species Survival Plan, Lion Country Safari also works in partnership with the Associations of Zoos and Aquariums and the American Institute of Rhinoceros Science research program.
The white rhino was once at great risk of extinction with only 1,000 of its kind left on the planet, but this number has since multiplied by twenty, according to Lion Country Safari.
In total, Lion Country Safari is now home to 16 of these white rhinos. At the drive-through safari, visitors can see these as well as get a glimpse of Ruby and her mother as they bond in the maternity area.
