Dublin Zoo welcomes a baby rhino

Richard Collins says first newborn in 14 years had a textbook delivery

After an absence of 14 years, a baby rhinoceros has been born in Dublin Zoo. The herd there has five adults, two males and three females. Last year, a pair were seen mating. However, it's not easy to tell if a rhino is pregnant; you can’t just hand the animal a bottle and ask for a urine sample. Its dung has to be tested for traces of hormones produced during pregnancy.

But Helen Clarke and her team had a further problem; how to tell which animal produced a particular piece of dung. Like all vegetarians, a rhino generates lots of waste but this soon becomes mixed with that of its companions. You could follow an animal around with a shovel to get a ‘clean’ sample but that’s hardly a practical proposition — dung tests have to be carried out at least once a week for up to three months. A who’s who of rhino droppings was needed if the team were to identify the zoo’s expectant mother.