A Famous Zoo In Kansas City Is Getting An Endangered What? Rhino You Say?

The Kansas City Zoo will be getting a brand new resident.  He or She may arrive by the end of 2022 or early 2023.  Why is this significant? The new resident is an endangered species.  It will be an Eastern Black Rhino.  There are only about 740 Eastern Black Rhinos in the wild, and 53 in accredited zoos. So this is a rare occurrence.

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Eastern black rhinoceros are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is the rarest of the three remaining black rhino subspecies and can be found in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. There are just 53 eastern black rhinos in facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA), so this impending arrival is not only exciting for the Kansas City Zoo but is very important for the subspecies as a whole!

Here is the Facebook post from the Zoo:

Both Mom Zuri and Dad Ruka arrived in Kansas City from the Oregon Zoo in April 2018 on the recommendation of AZA’s Species Survival Plan. Zuri, 15, was born at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Ruka, 11, at the Saint Louis Zoo.

You can read a little bit more HERE.