SUPERSTAR!!!!!

     I guess you could call me a lucky traveller.  I just happened on my first trip to Imire to see Baby Tafika, a two-week-old baby black rhino.  And this time, I just happened to see Imire's latest arrival, an as-yet-un-named two-week-old baby WHITE rhino!  And to show you what incredible luck that is, there have been no other baby rhinos born at Imire in the three years between these two earth-stopping events!
     This baby has a nervous Mom, and so I wasn't able to get the great close-ups I was able to get of Baby Tafika, but I hope you can still get the idea.  I always associate animal "cuteness" with fluffiness and big eyes, but this baby is proof that cuteness doesn't end there.

 Here he comes!  This little guy is SO full of mischief!  When his mother tries to take a nap, he crawls all over her and head-butts her.  She is INCREDIBLY patient (and tired).

     You may notice that neither of these rhinos is "white" in the sense we understand the term.  Perhaps you already know why they distinguish the two kinds of rhinos in sub-Saharan Africa as "black" and "white,"  but here's an abbreviated version of the story.  The first rhinos observed by white settlers were called blacks, because . . . well . . . .   they WERE .
     Then it was discovered that there was quite another kind of rhino in the area.  The Boer settlers noticed that their mouths were much wider than the black rhinos.  In their Germanic way, they called those newly-discovered rhinos "weid,"  meaning "WIDE."  The later English settlers misunderstood the name, and soon they were called "white" rhinos, to distinguish them from "black" rhinos, even though there's no real color distinction between them.  And yes, due to poaching, they are both EXTREMELY rare, and about equally.

And there he goes!