Toronto Zoo welcomes 'vulnerable' baby Indian rhinoceros

Just incase wee pandas andlion cubs weren't enough to fulfil your weekly quota for all things adorable a male baby rhino has just joined the Toronto Zoo's lineup of extremely cute baby animals.

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The newest addition to the zoo was born toAshakiran (Asha),an 11-year-oldIndian rhinoceros, on Wednesday.

"This recent birth is very important for Indian rhinoceros conservationas the species iscurrently listed as 'vulnerable' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species," the zoo said in a statement.

The zoo said there are only about 2,000 of these animals left in the wild.

The Indian rhinoceros exists in a few parts of Nepal and India and is considered a vulnerable species due to habitat degradation and poaching.

The zoo saidthis is the firstsurviving calf forAsha and Vishnu, the newborn's12-year-oldfather.

Previously,Asha, who is on loan from the Los Angeles Zoo,gavebirth to a stillborn calf in 2011 and then was unableto maintain a pregnancy.

The Toronto Zoo worked with the Cincinnati Zoo to give oral progesterone to Asha to help herhave a successful pregnancy. The zoo says the birth of the healthy calf "will strengthen conservation breeding efforts in the future."

It is the fourth Indian rhinoceros born in the zoo's history. The last onewas a female bornin 1999 namedSanya, who is now in The Wilds zoo in Ohio.