It’s hard to believe that a year has passed and Pampoen the Zoo’s Black Rhino calf turns one on 31 October, Halloween!

Pampoen has been steadily growing over the past year, he weighed 88kgs in December 2017 and they gain approximately a kilogram a day so he would weigh just over 400kgs now!

Pampoen is full of attitude and is a very confident rhino around the keepers as we have spent a lot of time getting him used to us being around. Bakhita his mother has always been comfortable around us so that helped to put him at ease initially.

Black Rhino calves stay with their mothers until they are at least two years old and big enough to defend themselves from potential predators. At this stage he is still suckling from his mum from time to time but he is so big he has to lie down to do so. Pampoen also eats everything mum does and they often will push each other of the way to get to food. They receive hay, tree branches from different tree species as well as concentrates which are a mixture of horse pellets, wheatgerm and seeds full of vitamins and minerals. Sweet potato and carrot are used in training and conditioning sessions – sweet potato is definitely his favourite! 
To celebrate his birthday we will be giving Pampoen plenty of his favourite foods and we will introduce him to pumpkin as a special treat!

By Black Rhino Keeper, Mel Frith