On November 7, 2011, Mimika, Eastern Black Rhinoceros from Ueno Zoo, departed for Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture. The move was for breeding purposes, and for Mimika, it was a marriage.

Mimika was born on April 20, 2009, and is the first captive-bred Eastern Black Rhinoceros at Ueno Zoo.

While eastern Eastern Black Rhinoceros are solitary in the wild, they stay with their mothers when they are young. Mimika and her mother, Argo, were always together, but as Mimika grew, Argo became particular about the order in which she entered the sleeping area from the exhibit, and began to distance herself from her calf. This small change in their relationship prompted us to begin preparing to separate them.

We chose a method that would minimize stress on the rhinos when separating them, so it took about 10 months from preparation until September of this year when we were finally able to completely separate them. Eastern Eastern Black Rhinoceros, but they are sensitive to even small changes in their environment, and when they call out to each other, they make high-pitched and adorable sounds that you wouldn't expect from their size. They made these sounds especially often during the separation practice, and I think many people in the exhibit area have heard them.
Our careful and time-consuming process of separating the parent and child animals paid off, as we were able to smoothly transition them to the next transport box.

On November 6th, the last day of Mimika's exhibit, many people visited Mimika's room, and as the person in charge, I was very happy to realize once again how much everyone loved Mimika. The message cards that visitors wrote for Mimika were sent to Adventure World along with Mimika herself.

With her curious and easygoing personality, Mimika was loved by many visitors at Ueno Zoo, and we believe she will become a popular figure at Adventure World as well. She also gets along well with Adventure World's male rhino, Crag, and we hope that she will one day give birth to some adorable offspring. Thank you to everyone who supported Mimika.

Tokyo Zoo Net BB Videos "Mimika, Eastern Black Rhinoceros, is doing well." (September 2009)

Photo above: Mimika in the enclosure
In the photo: Packaged in a shipping box.
Photo below: Loading shipping boxes onto a truck.

[Mayumi Yamagishi, Animal Care and Exhibition Staff, Ueno Zoo West Garden]

(November 11, 2011)