Indian Rhino Prepares for Rare Birth-Cincinnati Zoo

Rhino Hormones:

Today, we started to decline the daily dose of a hormone supplement Nikki has received throughout her pregnancy. As a precaution, Dr. Stoops prescribed Nikki a progesterone supplement when she verified Nikki's pregnancy back in August 2009. From day 18 of pregnancy until day 449, Nikki has been given a full rhino dose of progesterone supplement (34ml). However, in preparation for Nikki's impending birth, Dr. Stoops prescribed a daily dosage decline of 2ml per day. The hormone supplement is a liquid, so we dispense it into slices of bread and feed it to Nikki, she seems to enjoy it! We make sure Nikki gets her daily dose of hormone prior to going out on exhibit each day. By October 1, which will be day 465 of gestation, Nikki will no longer be receiving any hormone supplement. We know from urinary hormone results conducted at our CREW facility that Nikki and her pregnancy have been producing high levels of progesterone throughout the pregnancy. Because the hormone assays CREW utilizes do not measure the form of progesterone that we have been feeding to Nikki, we know that in fact Nikki has been carrying this pregnancy all on her own. Go Nikki!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Cincinnati
• Zoo
• indian
• rhino
• nikki
• artificial
• insemination
• birth
• first
• rare
• history
• baby

[kribaby76]

how soon will Nikki deliver?

[CincinnatiZooTube]

@kribaby76 She is due the middle of October.

[ZooVisitorMM]

I am a little confused by this (which is to be expected, since I am not a vet!). But just out of curiosity, if the CREW facility determined that Nikki was producing high levels of progesterone on her own throughout the pregnancy, why did Dr. Stoops prescribe a supplement? Also, why did she prescribe a supplement that was a different form of progesterone than the one Nikki would produce on her own?

Also, will Nikki still be getting a sandwich treat after she stops receiving the supplement?

[CincinnatiZooTube]

@ZooVisitorMM Animals can have drops in hormones during pregnancy that can trigger preterm labor/abortion. Early in pregnancy, Nikki's ovaries produce progesterone and as pregnancy progresses the placenta takes over. We needed to be sure the ovary to placenta transition went well, which it did.  There are different forms of progesterone that the body responds to – Nikki’s body recognizes the type we administer. Nikki will still get regular treats.

[amm019]

0:13

Hey, I know that liquid, we use it at the vet clinic I work at to make the mares' bodies act or work like they are pregnant (to help the embryos that we've transmitted into them).

[emilygclarinet]

I never knew rhinos liked bread. :)