This is Lunga. He was only a month old when he arrived at The Rhino Orphanage. His mother was injured while the two of them were being relocated. The vet was worried that she wouldn't make it so he was brought to us. The plan was to reunite them once she recovered but unfortunately she died a few weeks later.
The first few days after Lunga arrived we stayed by his side 24/7 to keep him company, so this meant sleeping with him as well! Lucky for me Lunga was still very small so I didn't get too squashed. He wanted the bed all too himself and of course being a rhino he got what he wanted....
During the night Lunga kept getting up and sucking on my arm, letting me know that he wanted his milk. He was being fed every two hours throughout the night and often needed a little belly scratch to help him fall back asleep.
The other baby rhino that took up my whole bed was Dani, a little white rhino at Moholoholo. She actually has a similar story to Lunga, because her mother was being relocated when she was still pregnant. Due to stress though, she gave birth prematurely and rejected her baby.
At some point I also had to sleep with Dani for a few nights. Now, Dani was much bigger than Lunga. She was about 8 months old which meant she took up a lot more space. She also wanted to be as close to me as possible so lying on top of me was her solution! The other thing about Dani was that she had tummy issues. She had quite a serious problem with diarrhoea (and gas!) so you can imagine how those nights went. I was up most of the night because every time she moved I panicked, thinking that there was diarrhoea coming my way! Besides the diarrhoea, Dani was great to sleep with because she kept me warm and let me use her as a pillow!
Me using Dani as a pillow
Dani using me as a pillow
Sleeping with baby rhinos is the best part of my job!
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