Watch adorable "threatened" white rhino baby zoom around zoo enclosure at 10 days old

  • last year
An adorable white rhino baby has been born at a UK zoo and is now zooming around her enclosure at just 10 days old.

The 66kg babe was born on Jan 13 and is part of the 'near threatened' Southern African white rhino species.

The newborn has bounced back after a brief feeding scare and is now entertaining both zoo keepers and mum by evading weigh-ins by whizzing around her enclosure.

The baby, who hasn't yet been named, was born to white rhino mum Astrid after 16 long months of pregnancy.

The keepers at Colchester Zoo in Essex were delighted to see the baby arrive after a quick birth.

The keepers had been on watch hourly throughout January whilst awaiting her arrival.

The bouncing babe then struggled to find the milk from her mum on her first day.

The team started feeding expressed milk to the baby by bottle every two hours.

After three days on the bottle the baby was able to find the milk from Astrid's teat.

Team leader Jo Burch said: "At a week old now, her personality is starting to show through.

"She is even at the point of refusing to let us get a new weight off her as she enjoys zooming around her enclosure.

"We like to get to know the newborns before naming them as we like their name to have a specific meaning to the individual.

"We have some ideas but have not made a decision yet.

"We may ask the public to help us choose when we have a shortlist!”

Whilst the youngster gets used to life in Essex visitors may be able to glimpse her from the outside viewing area.

White rhinos are on the 'near threatened' red list for the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

This means the species is vulnerable to becoming an endangered species, due to poaching and the ivory trade.

The baby is the fifth white rhino to be born as part of Colchester Zoo's breeding programme.