Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands, celebrated the birth of rare white rhino early Saturday morning. Named Vince, the square-lipped rhinoceros calf was born prematurely with an expected due date in late October or early November.
"We expected it in about six weeks time," Zookeeper Rene Rijken told Reuters.
Though Vince appears healthy, zookeepers plan to keep him in a separate stable for the time being as a precaution of his premature birth.
"The rhinos have their pregnancy for about 17 months, a month earlier or a month later, that's also normal," Rijken said. "His father is not always friendly to very young rhinos, so we have to wait until he is a bit bigger that he can take a push from his father."
Vince is the second offspring of 12-year-old Kwanzaa and her 20 year-old mate Gilou. Their first calf was Dozer, a male rhino born in 2010.
The white rhino, divided into two subspecies (Northern and Southern), is a "near threatened" species -- two steps away from "endangered" and four categories away from "extinct," according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. There are about 20,000 white rhinos in existence, however the species remains on the near threatened list due to the risk of poaching.
It seems this has been the year for white rhino births, with Walt Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the Ramat Gan Safari and the Tel Aviv Zoological Center all welcoming calfs into the world earlier this year.
Meet Vince in the video above and check out photos of more rhinos in the gallery below.
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