FOX19.com and FOX19 News, weather, traffic, and sports for Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky | Cincinnati Zoo's Rhino expecting again
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Nikki's baby- Day 70 (Source Cincinnati Zoo)Posted by Amber Jenkins - email
CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - Nikki, the 18-year-old Indian Rhino, is expecting again.
Scientists at the Cincinnati Zoo's Linder Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife(CREW) collected sperm from Vinu, a 38-year-old male Indian Rhino at the Bronx Zoo, back in 2005. It was stored for four years until it was thawed and used in Nikki's artificial insemination in June of this year.
Nikki will be carrying her baby rhino for 480 days. So far, it has been 133 days and they expect the little one to arrive by October of 2010.
Nikki was the first endangered rhino species to become pregnant through artificial insemination of frozen- thawed sperm. Sadly after carrying the rhino to full term Nikki delivered a stillborn calf.
There are only 60 Indian Rhinos in captivity in North America and approximately 2,500 remaining in the wild.
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