Baby rhino born at Blairdrummond Safari Park

Feb 5 2010 by Stephen Robertson, Stirling Observer Friday

Baby rhino Ailsa makes her debut

BLAIR Drummond Safari Park has been celebrating the arrival of a new kid on the block – cute baby rhino calf Ailsa.

She was actually an early Christmas present, born on December 21, weighing in at around 50kg, but now that the worst of the snow has cleared and she’s steadier on her feet, the tiny Southern White Rhino was ready to take a bow for the cameras.

The birth itself was unusual, as she was born at around 12.15pm, while the majority of births usually take place in the early hours of the morning.

Even more unusual, keepers were actually alerted to the imminent birth by someone in Cyprus, who had been following Ailsa’s mother Dot’s pregnancy on the “Rhino Web Cam”, which featured on the safari park’s website.

Coming up with a name for a new arrival can sometimes be tricky but there were no such problems this time around – Ailsa being named after Ailsa West, one of the calf’s keepers.

The cute rhino calf is now settling in nicely, cosying up to mum Dot, dad Graham and sister Maz.