The Tiergarten Nürnberg reconstructed the former outdoor enclosure of the elephants for their Indian rhinos. In addition to their hitherto existing home at the pachyderm house and the two outdoor enclosures bordering on the house, Nürnberg's rhinos Purana, Ropen and their daughter Seto Paitala can now use an area of 3,500 square meters.
Thanks to this third lockable enclosure, Nürnberg's youngest Indian rhino Seto Paitala, who was born at the Tiergarten Nürnberg two years ago (27 August 2009), can continue to live at the Tiergarten when Purana will give birth to a new baby. Since Purana was already covered by Ropen on 28 March 2011, this might be the case next summer.
At the moment, either Purana and her daughter or Ropen use the new enclosure in turns. This enclosure was equipped with very solid wood fixtures as well as trees in order to keep the heavy animals busy.
According to the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUNC) the Indian Rhinoceros is classified as endangered and is subject to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or Washington Convention. Apart from poaching, the number of Indian rhinos is endangered by plants introduced from South America. The introduced species are a species of mimosa (Mimosa pudica) and a species of aster (Mikania migranthia), which overgrow the rhinos' main fodder plant, the elephant grass. It thus cannot be reached by the animals. At the moment, the only possibility to keep the introduced plants under control is to remove them by hand or to fight the Mikania with fungi.
