Mike Pflanz, London Telegraph: The first baby rhinoceros born in Uganda in almost 30 years has been named Obama because his father is from Kenya and his mother was born in the US.
Researchers at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary have only recently been able to approach the calf, born at the end of June, because her mother was too aggressively protective earlier.
"He's a real little scamp, running all over the place like crazy, his mum can barely keep up with him," said Angie Genade, director of the sanctuary, 105 miles north of the capital, Kampala.
"Once we could get close enough to see what sex he was, there really was no other name that we could give him." Uganda's rhino population of roughly 450 animals was completely wiped out during the horrors of former President Idi Amin's reign in the 1970s.
But within the last four years, the 30 sq mile Ziwa sanctuary has taken four Southern White rhinos from neighbouring Kenya – "including the newborn Obama's father, Taleo, the group's dominant male.
They have also been given two rhinos from the Disney Animal Kingdom in Florida, including Nandi, Obama's mother, born in captivity in the US.
"To have an infant born here for the first time in 28 years, completely naturally, after this animal became extinct is something really special," said Ms Genade.
One of the other females gave birth to a stillborn calf earlier this year.
But now two of the other females in the group are also pregnant, with one baby due in November or December and the next early in 2010.
Six other rhinos, all female, will also arrive from South Africa next year at the sanctuary, which relies entirely on private donations to continue to operate.
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