A very energetic and rather cheeky little greater one-horned rhino calf named Akeno at the Chester Zoo in Cheshire, England was having a wonderful time, running back and forth across the grass until he noticed that his tired mother was moving rather slowly. As she lay down for a well-deserved nap, the feisty youngster decided to try to coax her up in anyway he could. Akeno first jumped onto her back and gave her a few bounces, but to no avail. He then tried snuggling up to her face, but no go. It was only Akeno then began running circles around his mother that she reluctantly got up to join her beloved son.
Also known as the greater one-horned rhinoceros and great Indian rhinoceros, the baby was born at the Chester Zoo, Cheshire England at around 6pm on the 3rd of May 2018. It is a male and they named him Akeno, meaning “beautiful sunrise”.
While Akeno keeps his mum very busy, his birth is very important to the the Zoo’s species conservation program and the existence of the species itself. The greater one-horned rhino is considered to be vulnerable and was almost hunted into extinction.
Not long ago there were less than 200 greater one-horned rhinoceros in the wild. They were hunted almost to extinction. Just in time steps were taken to protect them. Now there are about 2,600, but they still face threats in India and Nepal. Poachers target them for their horns and a lot of land where they once lived has been taken over by farmers so it’s important we do all we can to stop their numbers going down to critical levels again.