Cleveland zoo's rare black rhino is pregnant
CLEVELAND — Cleveland zoo's Eastern black rhinoceros is having a baby, but we'll have to wait more than a year to see the little guy — or gal.
The mom is Kibbibi, who is 13½ years old, according to Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, which tweeted about the addition Wednesday and teased its followers with a Feb. 21 ultrasound posted on Facebook the night before.
Female Eastern black rhinos reach sexual maturity at age 4 to 5 but don't generally have their first calves until age 6½ or 7, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Kibbibi's pregnancy will last 14 to 16 months and her calf is expected to weigh about 85 pounds when it is born.
That means this baby rhino's birth is expected in early spring 2018. Momma rhinos, which can be up to 12 feet long and weigh up to 3,000 pounds, generally give birth every two to five years.
► Related: The science behind milking a hippo, saving baby Fiona
► Related: Poachers break into French zoo to kill 5-year-old rhinoceros for its horn
► Related: San Diego Zoo finds cause of rhino's trouble started in South Africa
"Throughout Kibbibi's pregnancy, guests can share her journey with special, educational opportunities at the zoo, including a special photo opportunity located at the rhino's habitat," zoo officials said.
Kibbibi, who was born in 2003 at the Cleveland zoo to Inge, last gave birth July 1, 2012, to a son later named Juba, which means "brave" in Swahili. Back then, the zoo's eastern black rhino breeding program was considered one of the most successful in North America, and Juba was its fifth baby since 2000, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported.
This latest calf, likely conceived late last year with dad Forrest, will be Kibbibi's third and the zoo's seventh. Its gender isn't known yet, but zoo staff will be doing ultrasounds regularly.
Eastern black rhinos, a subspecies of black rhinos, are considered a critical endangered species with fewer than 750 remaining in Kenya and Tanzania. The West African black rhino was declared extinct in 2011, according to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
They've been killed for their horns, which are made of keratin that is similar to human fingernails, and more than 95% of black rhinos were lost to large-scale poaching between 1970 and 1992. Traditional Asian medicine considers the powdered horn a cure for many illnesses, and the horn is made into dagger handles in some Middle Eastern countries.
Black rhinos as a whole are less plentiful in the wild than white rhinos.
Follow WKYC-TV on Twitter: @wkyc