Woburn Safari Park has received two female Southern white rhino from South Africa as part of a plan to create a self-sustaining white rhino population in Europe.

After a three-and-a-half day journey from Johannesburg to Bedfordshire, Mtubatuba and Mzuki are settling into their new home at Woburn Safari Park.
Once the ladies complete a 30-day quarantine process, they will be gradually introduced to Woburn’s current crash of four white rhino, along with a young male rhino from another UK facility.

Although the original Woburn rhino are two male/female pairs, they have been housed together for so long that they relate to each other as siblings, rather than potential mates. Dr. Jake Veasey, head of animal management and conservation at Woburn, said in a press release that he believes the newcomers will stimulate breeding behavior among the rhino.

Having more than one bull rhino is critical for creating the optimal social situation needed for stimulating breeding with males vying for interest from the females. We will now have three males and four females so the chances of breeding will be dramatically improved.

An alternative for “surplus” rhino management

Southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) are one of conservation’s greatest success stories: At the turn of the century, there were few than 100, due to trophy hunting and poaching. Now, there are around 17,000. Unfortunately, the Northern white rhino (Ceratotherum simum cottoni) stands as a tragic conservation failure, having been poached to extinction in the wild by 2008. While a scant few remain in captivity, they have not reproduced well.

Southern white rhino are considered “conservation dependent”, meaning that without active conservation measures, the species would surely become extinct in the wild.

But most of the 17,000 Southern white rhino reside in South Africa – and some of them are deemed “surplus.” Drastic measures, such as auctioning rhino off to trophy hunters, are taken to reduce the population in the limited protected space.

Dr. Veasey would rather see these “surplus” rhino become part of a sustainable breeding program in Europe.

An alternative is for these surplus animals to come to join ‘insurance’ populations outside of Africa which could help to ensure the future of the species, and in turn help to raise the profile of these amazing animals.

The white rhino population in Europe is currently not self-sustaining – one of the reasons for this is the historical mismanagement of white rhino social groups with too many rhino growing up together and so establishing sibling rather than sexual relationships in captivity. This combined with a lack of facilities holding multiple bulls to stimulate competition for mates meant that whilst captive rhino typically lived remarkably long lives, not enough of them went on to breed to replace the loss of older animals.

Rhino-sized “Ritz”

Woburn’s new state-of-the-art rhino house would be accurately described as “The Ritz” for its occupants. Dr. Veasey and his team designed the facility to allow the rhino to live in a group, as naturally as possible.

There are over 40 acres of grazing paddocks, plus a huge indoor communal living area, with three yards. There are four indoor areas with a choice of flooring: Concrete, rubber, and wood chip bedding. The flooring is of particular importance because captive rhino often suffer from foot ailments, some of which become life-threatening.

Mtubatuba and Mzuki seem to be adjusting to their new home quite nicely.

Now they’re really settled and they’re coming up for a scratch and a tickle. It’s astonishing how relaxed they are.

Dr. Veasey and his team at Woburn are optimistic that their efforts will play an important role in long-term Southern white rhino conservation.

And as Africa’s rhino populations continue to be decimated by rampant poaching due to Chinese superstitions about the rhino’s horn, establishing a secondary, self-sustaining population outside of Africa certainly seems like an outstanding plan.

Here’s to Dr. Jake Veasey and Woburn Safari Park!

Image source: flickr.com / CC BY-ND 2.0 (photo is not Mtubatuba/Mzuki)

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“White Rhino Mtubatuba and Mzuki Have Arrived” by Rhishja Larson was originally published August 19,2009 on EcoWorldly.com

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