Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park has Arizona’s largest collection of exotic and endangered animals, with more than 600 separate species, rides, a petting zoo and daily shows! Wildlife Located at 16501 W. Northern Ave., Litchfield Park, AZ (SE corner of State Route 303 and Northern Ave.) Open seven days a week, 365 days a year, including all holidays. Zoo exhibits are open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (last Zoo Admission is at 5:00 p.m.) Aquarium exhibits are open from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Admission includes access to the Zoo, Aquarium and Safari Park. For more info: (623) 935-WILD (9453) or visit us on Facebook, Instagram, on Twitter @ZooWildlife, and www.WildlifeWorld.com.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 All right, welcome back to Arizona Daily Mix.
00:02 The Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium and Safari Park
00:05 has a new baby.
00:07 Let's go meet the wonderful new baby white rhinoceros.
00:12 And Danielle, how are you this morning?
00:14 - I am doing wonderful, how are you?
00:18 - I'm doing great.
00:19 All right, let's talk about this
00:20 'cause this is pretty important here
00:22 to have this done at the zoo here
00:25 of having the new baby born there, right?
00:29 - Yes, we are so excited for little baby Siki.
00:33 Her name's Masiki, but we call her Siki.
00:36 And she is our newest addition here,
00:39 born on November 7th.
00:40 This is such a significant birth,
00:42 not just for Wildlife World,
00:44 but for rhino conservation under professional care overall.
00:47 This special little baby, not only are females rare,
00:51 which she is, but her parents,
00:53 all three of our female rhinos were imported from Africa.
00:58 Our parents were unfortunately killed by poachers
01:00 and we were fortunate enough to be able
01:01 to have the resources to provide them a home
01:03 in hopes of a successful breeding program.
01:05 So as they got older and reached sexual maturity,
01:08 we shipped in Mayoto, our male
01:10 from San Diego Zoo Safari Park,
01:12 who also was once imported from Africa.
01:14 So little Siki here has an entirely new genetic line
01:17 under the professional care population.
01:20 - Wow, that's amazing.
01:22 And Danielle, you said something that's very important there
01:23 and that is where you are as one of the many zoos
01:26 around the country who are preserving these animals
01:30 because of poachers just wanting their tusks.
01:33 And that is why this is such a big deal
01:35 of us making sure that these animals
01:38 conventionally go back into the wildlife
01:41 somewhere down the line,
01:42 but still they're around for life.
01:44 - Yes, so unfortunately white rhinos
01:49 and other rhino species are killed by poachers
01:52 for their horn, which is made of nothing more
01:55 than keratin, which is the same protein
01:57 as our hair and our nails.
01:59 So you can see that beautiful horn there.
02:02 And it's, like I said, the same thing as our hair and nails,
02:05 but it's believed in some Asian cultures
02:08 that it does have aphrodisiac properties.
02:10 So unfortunately they do face that threat.
02:13 That is their number one threat out in the wild.
02:14 They have no natural predators.
02:16 So we wanna make sure that we keep this amazing species
02:19 around for many years to come.
02:21 And so breeding programs like this with little Siki,
02:24 with our rhinos here at Wildlife World
02:27 are so important for conservation efforts
02:29 because not only are these rhinos here
02:30 to interact with the public
02:31 and give people a greater appreciation
02:33 for these amazing animals to wanna preserve
02:35 and protect them out in the wild,
02:38 but it's just hugely important for this species
02:41 for their survival.
02:42 - Yeah, all right.
02:43 So how big will they get?
02:45 'Cause I know they're different rhinoceroses right there
02:49 'cause there's different sizes.
02:50 I mean, will they get pretty, pretty big
02:52 or are they still growing?
02:54 - Yes, so our rhinos here are fully grown.
03:00 They can get anywhere from about 3,700 to about 5,000 pounds
03:04 so definitely quite an impressive animal.
03:07 And little Siki is just at about 325 to 350 right now.
03:11 So we are watching her grow
03:13 and we are so fortunate to be able to watch her grow
03:16 and play and run around in a safe environment.
03:19 So definitely a lot of growing to do,
03:22 but you can see we have our full-size female here behind me
03:25 and this is Mama Zuri and she is an incredible mom.
03:30 - Oh my God.
03:32 So Danielle, is Siki on display yet
03:34 or you still have her in the back area
03:36 getting used to everyone?
03:38 - Yes, so Siki is on display.
03:42 Now we do limit that time in the yard
03:43 'cause we do have to shift our rhinos.
03:45 Our rhino specialist team is incredible
03:47 with these amazing animals.
03:49 They work with positive reinforcement
03:50 so they can shift them in and out of the barn,
03:52 but they do have that climate controlled barn as well.
03:54 So if we have extreme weather,
03:56 you know, there's that to take into consideration
03:58 as well as various other factors as well.
04:00 So we wanna make sure that mom and baby
04:02 are as comfortable as possible.
04:04 And so what we do is we'll work with them
04:07 on a daily basis with that training.
04:09 So if you don't see baby Siki,
04:11 we do have a lot posted on our social media,
04:13 but she is currently out for the public to see
04:16 and interact with and watch her grow.
04:17 - Oh wow, this is so great.
04:19 Danielle, thank you very much for sharing her with us.
04:22 And of course you can go out
04:23 and take a look out at the Wildlife World Zoo
04:25 by going to their website,
04:26 seeing the times that they are out there.
04:29 And again, easy way to get out there,
04:30 hit the 303 and you're right there at the place.
04:32 Danielle, thanks for joining us this morning.
04:34 - Thank you.
04:38 - All right, stick around.
04:39 We have more of the mix coming up after this.
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