The Woodland Park Zoo is welcoming a new family member! Taj, a 17-month-old male one-horned rhino, arrived last week from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
Taj and another male rhino named Glenn, who will arrive in the following weeks, will live in a new special Assam Rhino Reserve exhibit that will open May 5. The new exhibit will mark the first time rhinos will live at the 92-acre Woodland Park Zoo in the zoo’s 118-year history.
Photos: Zoo welcomes first rhino
“Taj has spent his first few days inside the barn settling in and becoming familiar with his new surroundings and rhino care keepers,” Martin Ramirez, mammal curator at Woodland Park Zoo, said. “Starting this week, we will begin introducing him to the outdoor exhibit yards where he will also be in standard quarantine.”
Taj, pronounced like Taj Mahal, means crown or jewel in Hindi. He was born on Nov. 10, 2016, and is the 70th greater one-horned rhino born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park since 1972.
Glenn, named in honor of the late astronaut and Senator John Glenn, was born a day after Taj at The Wilds, a 10,000-acre conservation center in Cumberland, Ohio.
The rhinos currently weigh around 1,500 pounds each and will weigh between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds when fully grown.
