Video: Orphaned Animals Learn to Love After Losing Their Mothers

The bond shared between animals and their parents is just as strong as that in humans. With this in mind, when a baby animal loses their parent – for any reason, the impact is absolutely devastating.  Sadly, many baby wild animals are forced to face this tragedy as a result of poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. Many think that when an elephant is killed for their tusks, for example, they are the only victim. But what we don’t realize is that these animals live in family and social groups as complex as our own. And many times, when an adult is killed, they leave behind children.

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Video: Baby Rhino Is Attached to Keeper

An orphaned baby rhino has bonded with its keeper after seeing South African poachers mutilate his mother for her horn. The animal was brought to the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center in South Africa and affectionately named Gretjie by the staff. The poachers slaughtered his mother at the Kapama Private Game Reserve in South Africa on the night of May 7, according to the center.

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-Igor Purlantov

Rare White Rhino Born In Israeli Zoo

A rare white rhinoceros has been born in a zoo in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, a zoo official told AFP on Saturday. "This baby rhino, a male, was born early on Friday afternoon without any problems," said Netta Guetta, who heads the African animals department, adding that the newcomer has yet to be named. "This is an extremely rare event in captivity, and it's touching. Immediately after giving birth, the mother tenderly licked her calf and began to breast-feed," she said. The 20-year-old mother, named Tanda, weighs two tonnes and comes from South Africa.

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Rare Malaysian Rhino Gets New Mate To Save Species

Malaysian wildlife authorities said they have captured a female Borneo Sumatran rhino who will be paired with a new mate in a breeding program meant to save their species from extinction.

The plan is the cornerstone of efforts to preserve the bristly, snub-nosed animal, whose numbers have fallen to fewer than 40 in the jungles of Borneo island.  Officials have spent more than three years seeking a suitable mate for a middle-aged male rhino named "Tam," who was rescued in Malaysia's eastern Sabah state in 2008 while wandering in an oil palm plantation with an infected leg likely caused by a poacher trap.

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Poisonous Rhino's Deter Poachers in South Africa

Last year, radioactive boars frustrated hunters in Germany. This year poisonous rhinoceroses are discouraging poachers in South Africa. Like the boars, the rhinos are not a product of nature, but a result of human actions. In this case though, the toxic treatment was intentional.

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