Raising Rhinos for a Life Back in the Wild

Tipping the scales at 60kg at birth, by the time black rhinos are fully grown, they can weigh as much as a small car. Built like a tank, with some very unique character traits, hand-raising an orphaned baby black rhino back to a life in the wild is no small undertaking. So how does the SWT go about hand-raising and reintegrating these prehistoric pachyderms?

The importance of a surrogate mother (and some colourful accessorizing)

With their thick hides and formidable horns, rhinos look invincible. So it might be surprising to learn that their calves are actually extremely fragile. New-borns remain wobbly-footed for days, are extremely vulnerable to predators, and require milk until around 18 months of age, or so. Unlike elephants, where the herd provides unlimited childcare, rhino calves are raised alone. Testament to the labour of love and energy it takes for rhino mothers to raise their calves, these single mums only care for one offspring at a time, until their calf is ready to go it alone at around three years of age.

Against this backdrop of unwavering maternal protection and dedication, the SWT steps into the breach to raise and reintegrate orphaned milk-dependent rhinos. A team of experienced rhino Keepers take on the role of ‘surrogate mother’, and firstly focus on forging a bond of trust. The quickest way to a rhinos heart is through their belly – so Keepers encourage orphans to drink from bottle of specially-prepared formula milk, reinforcing that bond with regular comforting belly rubs.

The Keepers become a rhino calf’s whole world, just as their mother would be in the wild, providing an important triumvirate of protection, nourishment and comfort. Since calves are extremely vulnerable to predators, a Keeper offers physical protection during the day and, at night, the infant sleeps in a secure stable. Depending on the age of the calf, bottle feeds can be as frequent as every three hours, so for 24 hours a day Keepers are on hand to supply that ever important specialist milk formula – containing all the nutrients needed to for the calf to grow and thrive. Cosy blankets carefully tied around a calf’s belly serve to give added warmth and protection during the cooler mornings and nights. Keepers even communicate with calves, emitting soft ‘grunts’ to reassure young orphans, providing comfort just as like their mothers would have done.

“Black rhinos are not nearly as challenging to raise if you understand their many idiosyncrasies, but they are a very territorial species and thus extremely complicated to reintegrate.” Angela Sheldrick

Let’s talk dung!

Whereas elephants are a social species by nature, which makes their reintroduction relatively straightforward, it is an entirely different proposition for black rhinos who are immensely territorial. Meeting the neighbours then, is a gradual process and it all starts with dung! (Rhino’s having extremely poor eyesight, and therefore relying on smell as the most important sense in rhino society). Fascinatingly, to rhinos, dung and urine signifies an individual’s identity, marking their presence in the area.

Accompanied by their Keepers, calves enjoy daily walks to investigate scent trails and contribute to dung piles (known as middens) and urinals belonging to the wild rhino community. These serve as a directory of who’s who, allowing the infant to keep up with their neighbours and prepare the calf for life in the wild. Such explorations also enables calves the opportunity to eat the dung of other animals. Coprophagia, as this habit is called, may seem like a disgusting, or even just pointless exercise, however, the calf will be ingesting valuable micro-organisms in the dung which will establishing their own much needed community of stomach bacteria, vital for a healthy and efficient digestive system.

But that’s not all that is special about rhino dung! Middens act as community noticeboards, and through regular deposits, the orphan’s signature dung makes it known to wild rhinos in the area, aiding their eventual reintegration.

Creatures of habit and routine

Rhinos don’t stay little for long. Before they have a chance to outgrow their enclosed stable completely, they are relocated to a more spacious stockade for sleeping, allowing them to choose between sleeping undercover, or outside and under a blanket of stars. Keepers make sure to take their some of the rhino’s dung and use it to establish a dung pile within the new quarters.?This ensures familiarity and a seamless process when changing up the routine from stable to stockade, as rhinos are true creatures of habit and can find changes to their daily routine traumatic.?

Reintegration begins as early as three years old

In the wild, rhino calves usually separate from their mothers and strike out on their own in the wild at around three years of age, or when their mothers give birth to their next calf. This contrasts greatly to their elephant pachyderm counterparts, where males leave the natal unit when they reach adolescence and females remain with the herd for life.

In practice, Keepers generally find that from around three years old, hand-raised rhino calves naturally begin to show an inclination to become less dependent on their human family, expressing an iron-clad stubbornness and determination to decide the order of the day’s activities (like many human toddlers!). It’s at this point that Keepers reduce their hands-on?role and leave a calf’s stockade doors open at night to provide their growing charge with the opportunity to venture out, meet other rhinos and become an established member of the wild community.

To date, 17 orphaned rhinos have been successfully raised by the SWT, each individual representing hope for the survival of the species. One such success story is Solio, who was rescued in 2010 at the tender age of six-months-old. Following three years of constant care and protection at the SWT Nairobi Nursery, Solio re-joined the wild where she lives independently, happy and healthy. In a sign of her successful transition and acceptance by wild rhinos, she has given birth to not one, but two calves. Brilliant news for this endangered species where every rhino counts.

Learn more about the rhino orphans currently dependent on us here.