Rescued rhino and hippo calves become BFFs

There’s nothing like the healing power of an interspecies friendship.

Catie Leary

Baby rhino Makhosi (left) gets by with a little help from her friends. (Photo: Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage)

A newborn rhino is on the road to recovery thanks to the quick action of a wildlife rescue organization and the moral support of an adorable new friend.

It all started when staff at the Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa received an emergency call about a struggling rhino calf in Pongola. After grabbing their emergency kits and rushing out to the scene, the staff discovered the calf was so small and weak it couldn’t even reach its mother’s teat.

“[It was] so weak it wouldn’t survive the night,” rhino rehabilitation specialist Karen Trendler explains. “The calf [had a] very low birth weight and size possibly due to drought or a placental problem with the mom — fortunately she is OK and still in the wild.” Read more.