Ramat Gan Safari's newest baby rhino finally has a name

At the moment, the Ramat Gan Safari leads Europe in the number of rhinos born, due to the success of this program.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Rainy-Rafiki (photo credit: RAMAT GAN SAFARI)
Rainy-Rafiki
(photo credit: RAMAT GAN SAFARI)
The baby female rhino born last week in the Ramat Gan Safari has a name: Rainy-Rafiki.
“Rainy” is for the rainy weather the country experienced this year. Rafiki, which means “friend” in Swahili, is a gesture toward the strengthening relations between the Ramat Gan Safari and the Tanzanian Embassy.
Tanzania will mark its 55th year of independence later this month, and in May it will celebrate the first anniversary of the establishment of its embassy in Tel Aviv.
Rainy-Rafiki is the safari’s 32nd baby rhino. She was born to Rihanna.
Northern white rhinoceroses were formerly found in several countries in East and Central Africa south of the Sahara. However, they are becoming rarer due to the large demand for their horns by those who believe them to have medical value. Human desecration of the environment has also played a role in their growing extinction. As such, rhinos have been enlisted in a breeding program at the Ramat Gan and other safaris to prevent the population of white rhinos from declining further.
At the moment, the Ramat Gan Safari leads Europe in the number of rhinos born, due to the success of this program.
“The southern white rhino is endangered, so every calf born in a zoo taking part in the breeding program is both a local and a global success,” the safari said.
Tanzanian Ambassador Job Masima celebrated the birth and naming of the rhino. He noted that Tanzania and Israel share many common values and that one of Tanzania’s goal for 2019 is to launch a content cooperation with the Ramat Gan Safari, which will expand with time.
Tanzania is considered a paradise for nature lovers, with 16 national parks, 31 game reserves, 44 game-controlled areas and 33 wildlife management areas. More than four million wild animals representing more than 430 species make Tanzania their home, so that Tanzania has the highest concentration of animals per square kilometer on Earth. These species are spread across tens of thousands of square kilometers of nature reserves; one-quarter of Tanzania’s land has been designated as nature reserve.


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