Rhino Born on Christmas Eve Finds Love at California Zoo with Help from Matchmakers (Exclusive)

Jaali the black rhino recently met his potential mate at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens after two years of waiting

Jaali the Black Rhino has a lot to be happy about this holiday season.

The soon-to-be 4-year-old rhino was born on Christmas Eve 2019 at the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan. In 2021, the endangered animal was relocated to The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, California, as recommended for breeding by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan (SSP).

Nia, a black rhino from the Cleveland Zoo, was also transferred to The Living Desert Zoo around the same time to be Jaal’s potential mate as part of the same breeding recommendation.

“The SSP coordinator, I always joke; it’s a little bit like ancestry.com and Tinder. They make recommendations. They know that this woman and this man are genetically underrepresented in the population and they need to come together,” Allen Monroe, president and executive director of The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, tells PEOPLE.

“They both have Swahili names. Nia is Swahili for purposeful. She’s five years old and came to us from the Cleveland Zoo. Jaali will be four on Christmas Eve. His name Jaali (pronounced jolly) is Swahili for powerful,” Moore continues. , adding that Jaala’s name probably serves a dual purpose given the rhino’s Christmas Eve birthday.

African elephant born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom for the first time in 7 years

Although both animals moved to the California Zoo in 2021, they had to wait until they reached sexual maturity to officially meet each other. The couple’s first dates began in 2023, and the courtship has already begun.

“Our habitat is designed very specifically to meet all the needs of the rhinos, so there are a lot of special features built into it. One of them is that the habitat can be split into two halves,” Moore explains of the rhinos, the first to live in The Living Desert Zoo.

“Black rhinos are loners by nature. It’s a common thought that absence makes the heart grow fonder. So we had Jaali on one side of the habitat and Nia on the other. They can see each other. They can smell each other. We also switch them back and forth , so it’s a bit of a ‘Who Slept in My Bed,'” he adds.

Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

The Living Desert Zoo continued to force the rhinos to switch sides over the past two years, so the animals knew “there was another black rhino in the area.”

Two months ago, after reaching puberty, Nia and Jaali found out who the rhino was by meeting face-to-face for the first time. “We had that magical moment when we opened the door and one walked into the other side of the habitat. , and that’s when we started seeing the first signs of rhino courtship,” says Moore.

During their first encounter, the rhinos came close and touched horns — a moment that looked like a cute snap but was actually a “test of strength between the two of them,” according to Moore.

“It’s a bit like two bulldozers pushing back and forth against each other. Nia is trying to make sure that Jaali is on top and has the strength and good genes to pass on to her offspring. So they spent about half an hour this sort of sumo wrestling back and forth— back,” he adds about the introduction of the rhino.

Jaali, Nia, and The Living Desert Zoo take a slow romance about a rhinoceros. The two black rhinos still live in separate habitats, meeting when the moment is right for Nia.

“Female rhinos have a relatively short reproductive period. It’s only about three days a month, more or less. Nia’s ovulation cycle is every 25 to 30 days. We can tell when she’s getting close to that by her activity and Jaala’s interest in her, so we’re trying to time their introduction for that peak breeding time,” says Moore.

Rhinos usually meet every day of Nia’s breeding window. Those dates often involve some of the “sumo wrestling” Moore previously mentioned, followed by a run around the habitat and then a roll in the mud to round things out.

After that, “they go back to their two different sides of the habitat. Then we try it again the next day and the day after that. Then we’ll wait another month until we bring them back together,” Moore explains of the rhino courtship process.

“If they’re together all the time, then they’re going to wear out. Jaali will hunt Nia pretty regularly, and we don’t want that to happen. They’re big animals, so they can physically damage each other if they get frustrated. So we try to manage them, we call it’s not an appropriate term, but it’s a human consequence that makes sense,” he adds.

3 orphaned mountain lion cubs found a new home at the San Diego Zoo after a week of rescue

No breeding has yet been attempted between the two rhinos, but The Living Desert Zoo is still overjoyed at the progress this rhino relationship has made so far.

“It was amazing for us to see this first step of rhino courtship between Jaali and Nia. We’ve worked for over four years to get to this point. We spent a year designing this habitat with our zoo architects and another year building it. was two years of waiting for Jaali and Nia to reach reproductive age. It’s touching to see them go through this courtship.” says Moore.

Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

These rhinoceros dates are not just for the eyes of the keepers; the encounters take place “in full view of the public”, so zoo guests can also watch Jaali and Nia progress as a couple. But Moore admits that visitors shouldn’t expect an epic love story just yet.

“We expect it could take six to 12 months for successful copulation and pregnancy to occur. They’re using hormones and natural instinct to determine what’s going on and what they need to do. So we’re keeping our fingers crossed, but realistically expect it to take a while,” he says. Moore, adding that rhinos have a 15-month gestation period, so “a little baby rhino is probably realistically at least three years away.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Moore hopes that being able to watch these rhinos interact will inspire guests to protect these animals,

“There are only about 6,000 black rhinos left on the planet right now. That’s an incredibly small number. It’s all purely because of human greed and greed,” he says. “It’s from that desire to have a black rhino souvenir, that beautiful horn. It’s the rhino’s Swiss army knife. They use it for all kinds of things. To defend themselves, to dig holes. Jaali and Nia like to use it as a Ginsu knife to cut open pumpkins and watermelon, for example.”

“The more people that have a connection with these rhinos, the more people will tell their friends and neighbors and share the message that black rhinos are in danger and that it’s all because of human activity,” adds Moore.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education