Safari West Rhino Baby Alert – Is it a Boy or a Girl!

Safari West was overjoyed on April 2nd to welcome the birth of their first ever Southern white rhino baby, born to mother, Eesha, and father, Ongava. But is it a boy rhino? Girl rhino? Safari West will reveal the gender this Thursday, April 6th at live at 1 pm on their Facebook page. Or, rather, the proud papa, Ongava is going to reveal for them. Safari West will place a barrel containing several ostrich eggs colored either blue or pink in Ongava’s habitat. Ongava will approach the barrel and start shaking it, tumbling out the eggs revealing whether it’s a boy or a girl. The exciting event will be live streamed and recorded. Mom and baby will be in on the action and hope to see the baby scampering around.

The story of this remarkable baby calf’s birth started in the summer of 2008, when Eesha arrived at Safari West. Over the last 14 years, Eesha has been a living reminder to tens of thousands of excited visitors of the plight rhinos face in the wild, and the amazing organizations working to sustain and grow rhino populations globally. For years Safari West hoped Eesha might contribute to the growth of global rhino populations herself, but she never showed much interest in the male rhinos. All that changed in 2021 when Eesha was introduced to a new male named Ongava. Yes, she finally met her Mr. Rhino-right!

Why is this Remarkable Baby So Important?

Safari West is participating in a collaborative research project conducted through the American Institute of Rhinoceros Science (AIRS), an organization led by expert rhino scientists. With this research project, AIRS aims to advance the science of rhino husbandry through nationwide participation. Safari West is proud to be able to contribute to this research that is investigating physical fitness, reproduction, and well-being. Through positive reinforcement training, both of our rhinos, Eesha and Ongava, have voluntarily participated in blood draws, wearing anklet activity trackers, and providing heartrate, bioimpedance and morphometric measurements. We started our involvement in this collaborative research before we had confirmation of Eesha’s pregnancy. Southern white rhinos can be challenging to successfully breed under human care, especially if the herd size is small, as is the situation we have at Safari West with just one male and one female. Due to the success of their breeding, the data provided will be much more informative about the well-being of southern white rhinos under human care.

Part of Safari West’s responsibility of housing animals under human care is to expand their knowledge of these animals to continuously improve their wellbeing, especially for a keystone species such as the southern white rhinoceros. One of the major ways they accomplish this is through scientific research. Safari West has a research committee comprised of members with wide-ranging backgrounds, each with their own set of expertise. Through this committee they can participate in a variety of research projects that allow them to advance scientific knowledge in zoological facilities, improve the wellbeing of the animals in their care, and provide a better understanding of native wildlife that lives on the Safari West property.

In addition, Safari West is conducting their own, internally driven, research project related to behavior and reproduction utilizing thermographic imaging. They have anecdotally seen evidence that supports the ability to detect and monitor pregnancy in our female southern white rhinoceros by monitoring changes in heat signatures using thermography. Safari West will be able to utilize the test results from voluntary blood draws and data from behavioral observations to support the changes they are seeing in the thermographic images. The use of this technology could translate to research done in situ, as it allows for non-invasive data collection. Safari West plans to continue this research project after Eesha has her calf, to ascertain the use of thermographic imaging to monitor estrus cycles in southern white rhinos and, hopefully, repeat the research if Eesha successfully breeds again!

About Safari West

Since 1993, Safari West has opened hearts and minds with guided explorations of the famous Sonoma Serengeti. Featuring highly trained naturalist guides, nearly a thousand animals to discover, and large, mixed-species habitats that mimic the wild, there's no place like Safari West. Visit safariwest.com.

About Sonoma County Tourism

Sonoma County Tourism is the region’s destination stewardship organization. Inspiring travel to the region through a variety of sales and marketing programs aimed at consumers, meeting and event planners, the travel trade, and media, the organization strives to ensure responsible tourism helps create a robust economy for the Sonoma County region. For more information visit sonomacounty.com.

*Source:Sonoma County Tourism, Chris Vomvolakis, Senior Manager, Consumer Public Relations
cvomvolakis@sonomacounty.com