"Visitors may notice lesions on her legs and under her chin. Though the lesions can look unsightly, her behaviour tells us that these are not affecting her in any adverse way. She's still bright and bubbly, bouncing around, feeding from mum and exploring her environment," Mathers says.
Zahra is being closely monitored by the keeping staff and vet team in accordance with the zoo's high animal welfare standards, the zoo says.
"The lesions are reducing and improving daily, which is encouraging," says Mathers.
The announcement of the new baby was delayed while the vet team and keepers assessed Zahra's condition.
The decision was taken to confirm the preliminary diagnosis through testing, but the onset of Covid-19 delayed this process.
Hamilton Zoo has had great success with its breeding programme for southern white rhinos, with eight born at the zoo.
Males Kifaru and Ubuntu were transferred to the National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra, Australia. Inkosi and Mtoto are now at Auckland Zoo along with female Jamila, who was transferred in 2018 and is herself due to give birth later this year.
Named for the Afrikaans word "weit", which means wide, referring to the animal's wide mouth, the southern white rhino was thought to be extinct in the late 19th century. However, in 1895 a small population of fewer than 100 individuals were discovered in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Today, after 121 years of successful protection and management, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified the southern white rhino as "near threatened" in the wild.
Although still hunted and poached for their horns, which are believed in some cultures to have medicinal qualities, about 20,000 animals exist in protected areas and private game reserves.
• Hamilton Zoo has reopened with visitor numbers restricted to 500 at any one time and a one-in, one-out system. Animal encounters and keeper talks will not be available while staff investigate how to offer these in a way that keeps staff, visitors and animals safe.
Some paths will become one way to ensure visitors can stay safely apart as they move through the zoo. The cafe will be takeaway only and the playground will be open.
The zoo will be closed on Mondays for the foreseeable future to enable extra cleaning of public spaces and to take the pressure off staff, many of whom have worked through all alert levels in reduced numbers.
