NEW YORK CITY — Three days after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge introduced the heir to the British throne to the world, the Bronx Zoo has debuted a “royal baby” of its own — a three-month-old rhinoceros calf.
“So she may not be a princess, but she’s captured our hearts — and made a big splash from her earliest days (er, in the mud),” the zoo said in a statement posted to its website.
The Indian rhino calf, born April 6 to resident rhinoceroses Penny and Sanjay, has been introduced to a section visible from the zoo’s Wild Asia Monorail. The times and lengths of viewings will vary as she adjusts to public life, the zoo said.
With a birth weight of 120 pounds, the "regal rhino" has a bit of a size advantage over George Alexander Louis, the baby born to Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton earlier this week. Once full grown, she could top 4,000 pounds.
She is described as “frisky” by the zoo, which says she “jauntily follows mom everywhere she goes, and seems especially fond of bathtime — in the mud, of course.”
The calf is one of 56 Indian rhinos living in North American zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the 13 born at the Bronx Zoo since 1986.
Fewer than 3,000 Indian rhinos, which are native to northern India and southern Nepal, remain in the wild, the zoo added.
The young rhino is one of several baby animals to be welcomed into the zoo's ranks in recent years. Other new additions have included lemurs and a camel.
