The “oldest rhino in Europe” died in Barcelona Zoo. With these photos, the Israelis want to prove that they were not the ones who hit the hospital

Barcelona Zoo mourns the loss of Pedro. The animal was the oldest rhino living in Europe and died on Monday at the age of more than 50, the zoo in the Spanish metropolis said.

However, it is not known exactly how old Pedro was. According to official information, the southern white rhino was brought to Spain from South Africa about 51 years ago, in 1972, as a young animal of indeterminate age. It is estimated that he was between 53 and 54 years old at the time of death. Rhinos generally do not live longer than 50 years.

A few days ago, the rhino began a process of weakening due to its old age, “which could not be reversed despite the care of the zoo’s keepers and veterinarians,” the statement said. Pedro was the only rhino in the zoo.

Endangered species

According to the environmental protection organization WWF, the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is the largest land mammal on earth, after African and Asian elephants. White rhinos can reach a head and torso length of up to 4.2 meters, a shoulder height of up to 1.8 meters and a weight of up to three and a half tons.

According to the WWF, rhinos in Africa are threatened by poachers because the powdered horn is said to have fever-reducing, detoxifying, antispasmodic and, more recently, cancer-curing effects in parts of Asia. But from a scientific point of view, this is ‘humbug’.

At times there were fewer than a hundred southern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum simum). Thanks to intensive protection measures, a population of more than 16,000 animals has now developed again. According to the WWF, there are only two female northern white rhinos left in the world. (sda/dpa)