After months of delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Emma, a female white rhino, has finally arrived in Japan in search of love.
She is five years old and previously lived in Leofoo Safari Park in Taiwan.
She had been selected for a breeding and breeding program in Japan.
His transfer to Tobu Zoo in Saitama, near Tokyo, was scheduled for March but complications from the coronavirus have delayed his departure.
The rhino finally arrived at its destination on Tuesday, the zoo said in a statement.
Emma, this Taiwanese white rhino, arrives in Japan to find love 💕 ➡️ https://t.co/89bN2U66v0 pic.twitter.com/F8aNxhEw6k
- Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) June 10, 2021
Many endangered rhino species
Emma is expected to be on public display for several weeks and will have time to get to know her first suitor, Moran, a 10-year-old male.
Zoo breeding programs have played a key role in saving southern white rhinos.
This subspecies currently has fewer than 19,000 individuals in the wild, according to the Save the Rhino association.
The species almost became extinct in the 20th century before being saved thanks to conservation efforts.
Their northern cousins were not so lucky.
There are only two left, females.
Other rhino families, such as the Java rhino and the Sumatran rhino, have fewer than 100 representatives each.
Leofoo Safari Park imported eight southern white rhinos in 1979 and today has Asia's most successful breeding program for this subspecies.
Rhino poaching is fueled by the market for their horns in Asia, especially China and Vietnam.
Traffickers sell them as an aphrodisiac, even as a cure for cancer.
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