A Leg Up on Survival | San Diego Zoo 100

In the early morning of November 28, 2001, keepers discovered a greater one-horned rhino calf had been born, but had been rejected by his mother. The night had been very cold and he was in serious condition, so keeper Gloria Kendall put her coat around him and hugged and rubbed him to try to warm him up in the back of the truck as keeper Larry Schiffer drove to the Park veterinary hospital. No one was sure the calf would survive, but after intensive care for several days, Choto, as he was named, began to improve. He chugged 6 1/2 gallons of specially mixed rhino formula a day and put on weight, and the staff knew then that he would make it. Choto was the first greater one-horned rhino to be hand raised at the Park, and he grew to be an outgoing, energetic guy that loved attention from his caretakers. He also had another buddy: a young Barbary sheep, and visitors gathered at the Park's Petting Kraal to see the two youngsters chasing each other, playfully head butting, and just hanging out together in quieter moments.

One of four Anegada iguanas that hatched in October 2001 at the CRES facility eyes his surroundings. The Zoological Society of San Diego had the only group of these critically endangered lizards outside their native island habitat, and these four represented the first successful breeding and hatching of this species in a zoological facility. There were only about 300 of these lizards left in the world when CRES researchers Dr. Jeff Lemm and Dr. Glenn Gerber went to the island of Anegada to work with the British Virgin Islands National Parks Trust to try to save the species. As with the ongoing Cuban iguana conservation project, the plan was to breed Anegada iguanas in protected facilities and raise the young until they were large enough not to be eaten by introduced predators on the island—giving them a

The three Chinese dholes that came to the Wild Animal Park in 2001 were among the very few in zoos anywhere. A critically endangered species that was difficult to care for and breed, these three, a male and two females, were part of the Species Survival Plan to try to increase the population and learn more about the behavior and needs of the species. At the Wild Animal Park, they had their own habitat in an off-exhibit area, where they could settle in quiet surroundings.

2001

Vision 1997 - 2006

A leg up on survival: Providing individuals and species with every advantage to grow up and keep going.

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