Four white rhinoceroses arrived in Guadalajara from Europe on Wednesday in an effort to preserve genetic diversity as successful breeding leaves European zoos running short of space.
The three females and one male traveled aboard an Air France cargo flight from Paris after more than a year of preparation.
Their destination, the Guadalajara Zoo — possibly one of the “happiest” zoos in Latin America — already features rhinos in its safari attraction, and other Mexican facilities also keep rhinos: Africam Safari in Puebla houses black rhinos, while the León Zoo in Guanajuato state has a white rhino named Yuri.
The new arrivals are Salma, 5, and Moana, 9, from Serengeti Park Hodenhagen in Germany; Lewa, 4, from Safari de Peaugres in France; and Wami, a 15-year-old male from the Paris Zoo.
Their relocation is part of conservation and captive breeding programs coordinated by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.
Wami’s genetic lineage is particularly valuable in the Americas because it’s not represented there, said Alexis Lécu, the Paris Zoo’s scientific director.
Meanwhile, Europe’s captive breeding program has “less and less space” as rhino reproduction programs succeed, Lécu told the newspaper La Jornada.
European association members hold 326 white rhinos across 83 parks, with five to 10 births annually across the continent, La Jornada reported.
An estimated 15,752 white rhinos were in the wild at the end of 2024, down 25% from more than 21,000 in 2023, according to the International Rhino Foundation’s 2026 report. Poaching remains the major threat — which is why captive-breeding programs are viewed as vital.
Wami — who was born at the Beauval Zoo in Saint-Aignan, France, on Oct. 16, 2011 (belated happy birthday!) — has already had his sperm used for assisted reproduction in European parks. The same is expected to occur in North America.
Getting the rhinos aboard was no small undertaking.
The transfer required more than a year of preparation, including months spent familiarizing the rhinos with their transport crates so they could enter calmly, Guadalajara Zoo officials said.
It reportedly took more than an hour to get Wami, who weighs 2.4 tonnes (about 5,300 pounds), into his container for the 12-hour flight that arrived early Wednesday morning.
Visitors will have to wait to meet the hefty newcomers.
The rhinos, which can live for 35 to 40 years in captivity, will undergo quarantine, examinations and an adjustment period. The newspaper El Heraldo de México reported they would spend 40 days in dedicated accommodations while adapting.
The zoo will announce their public debut after assessing their progress.
The Guadalajara Zoo occupies about 124 acres of developed grounds, according to its website. It houses more than 7,000 animals representing 300 species, the zoo’s general director, Luis Soto Rendón, said on Imagen Radio last week.
He called the quartet’s arrival “the culmination of an extraordinary effort.”
With reports from El Heraldo de México, La Jornada, El Informador and Guadalajara Secreta