On Christmas Eve, 12-year-old black rhino Doppsee, which lives at Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, produced a newborn calf - the first such event in the zoo's history.
Animal worker Pat Fountain said on Wednesday that the birth was one of the zoo’s “crowning achievements”, as black rhinos are “statistically and historically very hard to breed and be successful”.
He pointed out that only about two black rhinos are born every year at US zoos, the New York Times reports. It added that the newborn has not yet been given a name.
“As this is Doppsee’s first pregnancy, the animal care and veterinary staff will continue to monitor Doppsee and her calf closely in the next few weeks”, the zoo's veterinarian Ronan Eustace said in a news release.
According to the release, Doppsee and her calf will not be shown to the public until the spring of 2020.