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Southern White Rhinoceros in
Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo had a population of five White Rhino. (2.3.)

With the death of the adult females in September 2003 the population is now 3 (2.1.)

Population 8 January 2005 2 (2.0) Their first rhino were Mandhla and his sister, Sesheka, who arrived in September 1980 from the San Diego Zoo in the USA.
Sesheka was later moved to Orana Park in October 1993 but unfortunately died when she fell into a moat, November 1 1993.

The males are

  • Mandhla, Aucklands original male.
  • Kruger, born 1989 and arrived from South Africa, October 1999

The females

  • Mazithi, arrived from South Africa, October 1999. Died Friday 5th September 2003 from contaminated food.
  • Mbili, bornJuly 1998, calf of the adult female. Died 6th September 2003 from contaminated feed. Arrived from South Africa, October 1999.
  • Keto, born Monday 26 June 2000, to Mazithi and an unknown father. She has since been sent to Hamilton Zoo. Mazithi was pregnant on her arrival at the zoo. Keto is the second calf to be born in New Zealand.
IN early September 2003 all five rhinos were seen to be off their feed. The increasing deteriation of their health was attributed to the animals having fed on hay contaminated with a bacterial disease. Unfortunately nothing could be done to treat the animals and the keepers had to stand by in despair as first Mazithi then her daughter Mbili died. The other three recovered but the loss of the adult females is a blow to the breeding program at the zoo.

The zoo has since decided to keep a bacjelor herd and has sent their last female, Keto to Hamilton Zoo. This was sometime late 2004.

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