Safari West has made sure its new baby rhino has a name no other rhino in the world could possibly have.
Born April 2, Otto Lang was named in honor of Safari West founder Peter Lang’s father, the park announced Sunday.
The original Otto Lang was also a notable Hollywood television director.
“While Dad was laying out shots and directing his actors, I was playing with the animal costars of shows like Daktari and Sea Hunt,” Peter Lang said, in a statement. “On those Hollywood backlots, I met lions, chimpanzees, and other amazing creatures. They fascinated me and that fascination has never faded. I guess you could say I discovered my passion.”
These experiences sparked a lifelong love of animals that led to Lang founding Safari West in the hills of Sonoma County.
Otto the calf was born to mother Eesha and father Ongava. The baby rhino is the first of its species born at the Santa Rosa animal park.
It is also Eesha’s first baby. She arrived at the park in the summer of 2008. She never showed much interest in mating with the park’s other rhinos until 2021, when she was introduced to a new male named Ongava.
It didn’t take her long to connect with Mr. Rhino Right, as Eesha showed signs of pregnancy in 2022. Patience was required as rhinos take 16 to 18 months to gestate.
White rhinos are classified as “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Their survival is threatened due to habitat loss and illegal poaching of their horns.