Lasai, greater one-horned rhino | San Diego Zoo 100

One-year-old Lasai came to the San Diego Zoo from the Basel Zoo in Switzerland in 1963. With his arrival, the Zoo’s collection could boast black, white, and greater one-horned rhinoceros species. Each was housed in newly constructed, moated exhibit areas on the large mammal mesa. A volume of correspondence reflected efforts to obtain a mate for him before Jaypuri, a young female born in India’s Kaziranga National Park, joined Lasai in 1965. Transferred to the fledgling Wild Animal Park in 1972, breeding hopes ran high for the pair.

1963

Innovation 1957 - 1966

The San Diego Zoo’s first greater one-horned rhino arrived in 1963, a handsome male named Lasai.

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