Baby rhino tries to adopt cars as his mommy after she is killed by poachers

A baby rhino called Donnie, lost his mother to poachers in the Kruger National Park. Scared and confused, little Donnie tried to adopt cars driving through the park as his new mommy. This phenomenon is known as imprinting and is a form of associative learning where animals recognise an individual or object as its parent. Baby animals often follow safari vehicles after losing their parents.

Donnie had to be airlifted to care at Care for Wild Africa, an organisation that rehabilitates wild animals on a reserve in Mpumalanga. Debbie’s father, Don, who is a Regional Ranger and grew up in the Kruger Park, tranquilised the baby rhino to fly him to a place of safety. An emergency landing had to be made as the baby rhino started to flatline en-route to his new home. It took three minutes before he was revived.

But the little guy is doing well now. He is drinking his milk and bundling around. Carers suspect the calf is around two months old and will be slowly weaned off milk and released back into the wild when he is strong enough.








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