Baby rhino joins fellow rhinos at San Diego Safari Park

LOS ANGELES -- A 4-week-old greater one-horned rhinoceros named Petunia made her debut at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park Monday after gaining enough weight to be on her own.

Little Petunia weighed in at 128 pounds when she was born Aug. 1, which is a low weight for a baby rhino. At birth, newborn rhinos should weigh between 132 to 176 pounds.

Animal care staff at the zoo kept the newborn rhino under 24-hour surveillance until she could gain more weight. On Monday, Petunia was cleared to leave a protected yard she was in and mingle with her fellow one-horned rhinos.

Zoo staff said the baby rhino kept close to her mother Tanaya, but seemed to enjoy exploring her new surroundings in the 40-acre Asian Plains habitat.

Petunia is the 67th greater one-horned rhino born at the Safari Park since 1975. The species, also called an Indian rhinoceros, is listed as an endangered animal by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with only an estimated 3,250 greater one-horned rhinos left in the wild.

City News service contributed to this report.