PHOTOS: Endangered black rhino born at Zoo Miami

MIAMI – Exciting baby news!

Zoo Miami has announced a new member of the family!

On Feb. 24, “Circe,” a 21-year-old endangered black rhinoceros, gave birth to a male calf in the barn adjacent to the black rhino habitat.

“Mother and calf have remained off exhibit since the birth where they have been kept sheltered from external stresses and given time to properly bond,” Zoo Miami said.

The zoo said that Circe has been a very protective mother and the calf has been nursing regularly while growing rapidly and gaining strength for his public debut. This is her fourth baby.

The father’s name is “Eddie” and he is also 21 years old. He has sired three offspring – all of them with Circe.

From numbers reaching well over 100,000 animals in Sub-Saharan Africa at the beginning of the 20th century, black rhinos now number less than 5,000 in the wild.

They have been poached for their horn which is believed by some cultures to possess medicinal qualities and by others it is used for dagger handles as a symbol of status. It is actually nothing more than a keratin based material similar to finger nails and hair and has never been proven to have any medicinal qualities at all.

These large herbivores can weigh up to 3,000 pounds and can be found in isolated pockets of savannah woodland in Eastern and Southern Africa where they lead a normally solitary life.

Mother and calf are being slowly introduced to the public this week by spending short amounts of time on exhibit during the morning with the amount of time being extended daily as the calf becomes more secure in its new environment.

(Photos by Ron Magill)