Meet the Toronto Zoo's newest baby rhino, born just in time for 2024

Around midnight on Thursday, the wildlife care team at the Toronto Zoo began to notice that its 14-year-old rhino — pregnant after a long infertility battle — was walking and rolling around. 

Sabi's water broke early Thursday morning and her calf was born at 7:58 a.m, the Toronto Zoo announced in a press release Friday.

"Toronto Zoo was thrilled to welcome white rhino Sabi's first calf," the zoo said in the release. 

As a first-time mother, the zoo says Sabi can be seen keeping a very watchful eye on her little male calf, by licking him and keeping him clean. A full health check is expected in the days to come.

The zoo kept the news of Sabi's pregnancy under wraps, citing challenges conceiving and challenges that come with being pregnant for the first time, until she reached the beginning of her third trimester. 

"Staff have been working overnight shifts to make sure someone was always with Sabi through the later stages of her pregnancy. They've been '"baby-proofing' the habitat and the veterinarian team has been keeping a very close eye on her," CEO Dolf DeJong said in the release. 

He says visitors will likely be able to view the calf as early as this spring, but in the meantime mother and son will get space to bond. 

Hard for Sabi to get pregnant 

Sabi was moved to Toronto in 2012, where the zoo's reproductive team learned her estrus cycles are quite long, making it difficult for her to get pregnant.

Following continual adjustments in daily care and diet, the zoo said Sabi's hormonal cycles finally switched to the typical cycle length in 2022. That summer, Sabi was impregnated by a male white rhino named Tom.

"We are excited to see our teams' efforts rewarded with the new addition to our rhino family," the zoo's senior director of wildlife science, Dr. Gabriela Mastromonaco, said in the release. 

There are fewer than 16,000 white rhinos left in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which lists them as near threatened. Their numbers are currently declining due to habitat loss and poaching.

"In honour of this significant birth," the zoo has launched the Wilding Rhino Conservation Fund, with 100 per cent of money raised going to white rhino conservation projects in the wild. 

The new addition has no name yet.