Potter Park Zoo Potter Park Zoo rhino improvements

White rhinos can be exhibited in small groups, are more cold-tolerant and have a calmer disposition (and can therefore be displayed in mixed species situations). These are good reasons for zoos to focus on them, even if black and Indians are more threatened in nature. I sincerely doubt zoos will ever be a source of rhinos for re-introduction to wild areas, so why not focus on the better exhibit species?
 
Black rhinos are extremely cold tolerant. I am really good friends with the Black Rhino keeper in Cleveland and if the temperature is above 40 degrees the rhinos are locked outside. They let the rhinos choose to go in and out if it is below 40 degrees and I have seen the rhinos out when it when it is below 30. Black Rhinos are the most cold tolerant rhino.
 
The problem, right now with rhinos, is that many zoos cant hold large numbers of them, and those that can (SDWAP, Wilds, etc.) are at capacity. Also, I dont know about Whites or Indians but right now the gender ratio for Blacks is almost 2 males to 1 females which is pretty bad. I think the US needs to ship more blacks overseas to Europe (if they have room). What species is dominant in Europe? Then we can focus on redoing and finishing exhibits and then evening out the populations between Blacks, Whites, and Indians. Also, I just remembered the whole current "White Rhino Reproduction Thingy" so maybe the US population will decrease. Hopefully we can restore but the way things look now. . .
 
White rhinos can be exhibited in small groups, are more cold-tolerant and have a calmer disposition (and can therefore be displayed in mixed species situations).
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AKA: Cheaper and easier to take care of!

I sincerely doubt zoos will ever be a source of rhinos for re-introduction to wild areas
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They already have and there is a movement building to do it again.


so why not focus on the better exhibit species?
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Because there is a serious lack of holding spaces for the other species of rhino.
 
ColumbusZoo001 said:
The problem, right now with rhinos, is that many zoos cant hold large numbers of them, and those that can (SDWAP, Wilds, etc.) are at capacity. Also, I dont know about Whites or Indians but right now the gender ratio for Blacks is almost 2 males to 1 females which is pretty bad. I think the US needs to ship more blacks overseas to Europe (if they have room). What species is dominant in Europe? Then we can focus on redoing and finishing exhibits and then evening out the populations between Blacks, Whites, and Indians. Also, I just remembered the whole current "White Rhino Reproduction Thingy" so maybe the US population will decrease. Hopefully we can restore but the way things look now. . .
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The problem is that more zoo are choosing to hold white rhinos over the other species. As of 2008 there are holding spaces for the following:

Eastern Black - 83
Southern Black - 55
Southern White - 250
Indian - 88

Future (5-10 yrs from now) holding spaces will hopefully look like this:
Eastern Black - 129
Southern Black - 78
Southern White - 386
Indian - 144

As for the black male surplus issue, those males need to be shipped back to Africa.
 
Regarding new exhibits and rhinos, here is what i know of off hand...

Recent new/renovation Rhino Exhibits (last 5 years)
Brevard Zoo - White
Indianapolis Zoo - White
Hogle Zoo - White
Lowry Park Zoo - White
Chehaw WAP - Black
Granby Zoo - White
Detroit Zoo - White
North Carolina Zoo - White
White Oak Conservation Center - Indian & Black
Tanganyika Wildlife Park - Indian
Safari Wild - White & Indian

Planned new/renovated Rhino Exhibits
Peoria Zoo - White
Toledo Zoo - White
Columbus Zoo - Black & Indian
White Oak Conservation Center - Indian
Denver Zoo - Indian
Woodland Park Zoo - Indian
Milwaukee County Zoo - Black
Oklahoma City Zoo - Indian
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo - White
Jacksonville Zoo - Indian
Birmingham Zoo - White
 
Well maybe some of those proposed White Rhino exhibits could hold Blacks or Indians, but I doubt any zoo is going to change their exhibit plan.
 
Cleveland Zoo has had loads of success breeding feale rhinos ColumbusZoo001. They had Azizi in 2000 who lives at the Pittsburgh Zoo, Kibibi born in 2003 is still living in Cleveland, and Zuri born in 2007 who is still living in Cleveland but moving either this year or next to another zoo. Inge is the mother of all three of these girls and she will always remain at Cleveland Zoo because she was wild-captured in 1997 and is very aggressive. Jimma is the father of Zuri. Spike is the father of Kibibi and Azizi, although he died from a virus at the Potter Park Zoo back in 2008.
 
Well maybe the Cleveland Zoo has had success with females, but the fact is that males definitely outnumber the females which is not a good situation for a captive Black population. They are solitary, no bachelor or bachelorette groups, and they are almost at capacity. My hope is that all the planned rhino exhibits get constructed and quickly, and maybe some of the planned White exhibits can go Black or Indian. (You should see the looks on peoples faces when I discuss rhinos with docents or keepers because after you say "rhino" once you just say Black, White, or Indian) I'm not racist, I'm just lazy.
 
Brookfield does a great job of keeping 5 Black Rhinos, so does SDWAP and Cleveland. Cleveland has a mother daughter group as mentioned above. The three females all go out together and they are all young, the mother, who is the oldest, is 15 and the other two are 5 and 1 so they are always active and they are really fun to watch as they swim, run, forage, and play-fight in their nice habitat.
 
I also think Columbus does a good job of keeping 3 black rhinos. Its nice that they have three outdoor yards that way all the rhinos get an opportunity to go out. Cleveland has two, but one of them is really small and off-exhibit, plus sometimes the older sister, Kibibi has to be seperated from Zuri and Inge when Zuri's nurses. There is almost always one rhino being kept in the barn. Usually the male Jimma. He is given access to the back off-exhibit yard, but there isn't really anything in that yard except dust and a few logs and its really small. The front yard is large for the rhinos, around .5 acres and has a large pool, loads of enrichment, lots of trees to lay under, a mound to hide behind, a hill to disappear down, and at least three deep mud-holes. Not to mention a fallen tree logs the rhinos like to rub their horns on and eat the bark off of.
 
okapikpr said:
The problem is that more zoo are choosing to hold white rhinos over the other species. As of 2008 there are holding spaces for the following:

Eastern Black - 83
Southern Black - 55
Southern White - 250
Indian - 88

Future (5-10 yrs from now) holding spaces will hopefully look like this:
Eastern Black - 129
Southern Black - 78
Southern White - 386
Indian - 144

As for the black male surplus issue, those males need to be shipped back to Africa.[/QUOTE

Cause for pm okapikpr! Will do in the next few days if I get the chance. Am in Cebu, Philippines right now! :)
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Can someone tell me where Ricko is? He used to be in Birmingham. For awhile they showing him in the proper Rhino exhibit in Birmingham and had Laptop and Abaju (the Southern Whites) in the Asian Elephant area. Now the two whites share both areas. Hopefully with surplus whites we can get a male soon. (With the two exhibits we could seperate them)
 
Their is a photo on the zoo's facebook of Dopsee the female with a pumpkin stuck on head from a special halloween enrichment session called pumpkinfest.
 
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