Training tales of #TZTankPuppy 🦏🍼

The African Savanna team continues to marvel at your white rhino calf's growth. At the moment, he is growing at a healthy rate, sometimes as much as a kilogram a day! The Wildlife Care team is happy to see the number on the scale reflected in the adorable baby rolls. At present, he is over 135kg!

But how does one go about weighing a baby white rhino? Well, it takes small steps. Both Sabi and the calf must be comfortable interacting with staff while allowing them to maintain choice and control at all times. For this training goal, Keepers were successful as a result of five key, chronological steps ⬇️

🦏 Building a trusting relationship! Having a strong relationship with the animals in our care is paramount, allowing behaviours such as voluntary scale training to be a positive, stress-free experience.
🦏 Ensuring the baby is comfortable to leave Sabi’s side to seek out attention from the Wildlife Care team. This is typically in the form of tactile reinforcement.
🦏 Ensuring the baby is comfortable to leave Sabi’s side to seek out attention from the Wildlife Care team. This is typically in the form of tactile reinforcement.
🦏 Reinforce the calf for coming through the door with some loving scratches.
🦏 Once on the scale, the team makes sure to only touch or scratch him when he has one of his legs on the scale. Wildlife Care then offers him additional scratches as he moves more of his body on the scale.

During these sessions, Wildlife Care proceeds only based on the calf’s comfort level. Each session could be different in length or level of participation, and that’s okay!

In the weeks and months to come, Wildlife Care will continue monitoring his weight as part of the rhino behavioural husbandry program. They are greatly encouraged by what they are seeing so far in his growth journey 🦏

Please note that Sabi and her new calf are not currently viewable to guests, as we provide them with privacy behind the scenes as he continues to grow. We will keep guests updated on when he will make his public debut 💚 #TrainingTuesday