The Toronto Zoo has released new video footage of its two-week-old white rhino.
The calf, affectionately known as #TZTankPuppy on social media, is “becoming increasingly playful, sparing with mom Sabi and galloping through the Rhino House,” the zoo said in a Jan. 11 post on X, which includes a 58-second clip of the rhino enjoying “morning playtime.”
In the footage, the adorable little guy is seen munching on straw as well as running around and headbutting his 14-year-old mother.
TZ Tank Puppy is Sabi’s second calf. He was born around 8 a.m. on Dec. 28.
Her first offspring, named Theo, was born in 2018 and left Toronto in late 2021.
At this time, The Toronto Zoo said that it is giving Sabi and her baby space to bond and that the calf will not be viewable to guests until the spring. In the meantime, the zoo said that it would post some YouTube videos of the new baby white rhino for the public to enjoy.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, white rhinos are listed as a “near-threatened” species.
The Toronto Zoo, which said that there are fewer than 16,000 left in the wild, has created the Wilding Rhino Conservation Fund in honour of TZ Tank Puppy’s birth.
With files from CTV News Toronto’s Katherine DeClerq.
