SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has given its new baby rhino a chance to do what all kids love: play in the mud.
The zoo says Edward, a 13-day-old southern white rhino, got his first chance Friday to experience a wallow in the mud — something rhinos do to keep cool and protect themselves from sun and bugs.
Keepers created the wallow. They say Edward watched his mother roll in the mud and quickly figured out what to do.
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They also weighed Edward. He clocked in at 215 pounds — a gain of 67 pounds since his birth on July 28 at a rescue center.
Edward also is the first southern white rhino to be born from artificial insemination in North America.
There are about 18,000 in the wild.
