Dublin Zoo’s New Baby Rhino Is All The Adorableness You Need Of A Monday

Monday getting you down? Fear not, these pictures of a baby rhino splashing in mud should help.

Dublin Zoo’s rhino herd welcomed a new member last Thursday August 25th, a southern white rhino calf. The first pictures have just been released, and he’s quite the cutie.

He’s the fifth calf to be born to his mum Ashanti, and weighed in at an impressive 60kg. Just look at him there, larking around in the puddles:

The newborn rhino joins his brothers and sisters Sam, Reni, Zanta, Nyala, and his parents Ashanti and Chaka in Dublin Zoo’s African Plains area, as part of the European Endangered Species Programme established to assist the survival of the threatened southern white rhinoceros.

According to the African Plains team leader Helen Clarke-Bennett, Ashanti is an “experienced mother” who is “bonding well” with her new son.

If you’re feeling creative, you can enter the zoo’s competition to name the new calf to win a family pass for the zoo. The name needs to be “of African origin” as a nod to the calf’s heritage, which means Ruairí the Rhino is unfortunately out.

Enter here before Monday September 19.

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• rhino