Denver families have two very big new neighbors to meet. For the first time in its 130-year history, the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance is home to southern white rhinos: Viazi and Mkuu, two young males who arrived this October after months of planning and a carefully coordinated journey from Florida.
They are easy to love and fun to tell apart. Viazi, age four, has a name that means “potatoes” in Swahili, while three-year-old Mkuu’s name means “prince.” The pair are settling into an improved indoor and outdoor home in the Zoo’s historic Pachyderm Building, a space that has hosted elephants and black rhinos over the decades, and they may already be visible out in the rhino yard as they get to know each other and their new surroundings.
Their arrival is also a conservation story. The pair came to Denver through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan, which sometimes supports a healthy population best by giving young males a great home. Southern white rhinos, native to southern and eastern Africa, once came close to disappearing — fewer than 100 were believed to remain in South Africa in the 19th century — and have since made a remarkable recovery. And that name? “White” comes from the Afrikaans word weit, meaning wide, a nod to their broad, square-shaped mouths.
Bring the kids, say hello to the Zoo’s newest giants, and watch two new friends begin their Denver chapter.
Photo: Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance
