According to the zoo, the baby rhino’s mother Kidogo got to pick from two names, Kayin or Kandoro. Hay was draped over two balls, each with the names written in pink lettering. The zoo posted a photo of the naming process to their official Facebook this morning.
“Who better to choose the name of our baby southern white rhino than mom Kidogo!” says the post. “Say hello to baby Kayin who is loving being on habitat with the rest of the crash (group of rhinos).”
Visitors can see Kayin, which means "long-awaited child" and Kidogo in the zoo’s white rhino habitat, which is located in the Africa area, right next to the zebras.
Kayin is the seventh white rhino born at ZooTampa as part of the Species Survival Plan, an effort made by The Association of Zoos and Aquariums and ZooTampa to save endangered species.
Southern white rhinos recovered from near extinction in the early 1900s. Then, there were only 50-100 found in the wild. Today, between 17,212 and 18,915 can be found in South Africa.
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This article appears in Feb 13-20, 2020.