Fatu in the foreground with her caregiver Jimmy. Suni is in the background. The two rhinos are getting along better than we imagined. Read on to find out more! © Jan Svatoš
It has been a while since we sent news from the Ol Pejeta Conservancy and the northern white rhinos. We decided that, instead of reporting on the same thing every two weeks, we would wait until there was some significant news to share with you. And we are happy to say that there are some encouraging signs coming from our northern white rhinos.
But first we want to mention that, in another part of the world, our friends at the Dvur Královè Zoo in the Czech Republic, together with Superinfo Magazine recently held a competition for children in neighbouring schools. The children were given the opportunity to tap into their creative side by taking part in a competition called “Draw a postcard for Rhinos to Kenya” where the children drew pictures that were exhibited in the gallery of the zoo. Best five pictures were then selected and were sent as greetings in form of postcards to the rhino here in Kenya. These postcards served as an acknowledgement of the efforts put towards saving the Northern White Rhinos. We want to thank the Dvur Krolove Zoo and the winners and all participants of this context. It was very nice to receive these postcards all the way from Prague!
Four of the winners from the competition held by the Dvur Královè Zoo
Now back to our rhinos and the news that you have all been waiting to hear.
We are happy to announce that for the first time in 10 months, we are seeing the first real signs of heading in the right direction and towards a mating. Ironically, it is Suni who is showing some serious interest in our young girl Fatu. In the last few weeks, we have seen some definite signs of cycling, and the dung samples that will be sent in the next few days to the Czech Republic will help us confirm the hormone levels and will give us a definite answer. But the visual signs we have observed are extremely positive and certainly the most encouraging we have seen since the rhinos arrived in December last year!
Suni is showing some strong interest into Fatu and is not about to give up. This is extremely encouraging for all of us.
Suni and Fatu still remain the 400 x 400 meter enclosure, separate from Sudan, Najin and the 7 southern white rhinos. They do, however, have visual contact with those in the larger enclosure.
Unfortunately, we can’t say that there is anything as encouraging coming out of Sudan and Najin. They are simply not showing any interest in each other. Having said that, Sudan continues to “harass” the southern white females and Daley, one of the females recently calved, which means that we should get a confirmed cycling in about three months. This might stir Sudan in the right direction!
As you can imagine, we continue to keep a close eye on the rhinos and will keep you updated as news come from the Conservancy.
