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Conservationists have found hope for the white rhino in an unlikely place - the Cotswolds.

This is because a wildlife park in Oxfordshire is celebrating the birth of a rare white rhino calf – the only one to be born in the UK so far this year.

Cotswold Wildlife Park announced the arrival of Markus, who joins a crash of eight rhinos.
Keepers said the birth, which was captured on camera, took place in under 45 minutes after a 16-month pregnancy. Markus’s mother, Nancy, has now given birth to seven calves with the park’s breeding male, Monty.

“Luckily, keepers were present the evening Markus was born,” the park said in a statement. “In less than 45 minutes, the 16-month pregnancy was over and Nancy gave birth to a male calf.”

Head keeper Mark Godwin said he thinks the new calf, “will be a big lad”.

Newborn rhinos typically weigh around 11 stone (70kg), and white rhinos have one of the longest gestation periods of any land mammal.

The park said Markus was a “high-spirited and boisterous addition to the crash”, delighting visitors with his “energetic outbursts”.

He will remain with his mother for the next year and has been named in honour of the late Dr Markus Borner, a conservation scientist who dedicated his career to protecting wildlife in Africa.