Zoo Atlanta is Heartbroken to Share the Loss of Zuri the Southern White Rhino

Zoo Atlanta is heartbroken to share that Zuri, a 2-year-old female southern white rhino, has died following a brief illness.

Zuri experienced a sharp decline in her health and behavior earlier this week, and blood tests revealed severe anemia. The Veterinary Team immediately administered extensive treatments, including an emergency blood transfusion using compatible blood from adult female Dakari and blood donated from other AZA facilities. Despite the team’s quick work and intensive care, Zuri continued to decline and died on November 6.

“This is a devastating loss for the Zoo Atlanta team,” said Sam Rivera, DVM, Vice President of Animal Health. “The loss of Zuri is crushing not only because she was such a young animal who was treasured as an individual, but also because she was an incredibly valuable member of her vulnerable species. While it is too early for us to presume on any specific cause, we are hopeful that pathology reports will tell us more about Zuri’s condition.”

Beloved throughout Zoo Atlanta as the first southern white rhino calf ever born at the Zoo, Zuri arrived on Christmas Eve in 2023 and was the first offspring of mother Kiazi and father Mumbles. The name Zuri, a moniker of Swahili origin which can mean “beautiful,” was the winner among more than 4,000 votes submitted during the Zoo’s 2024 “Rhino Naming Madness” – an event which further endeared Zuri to the community well outside the Zoo.

The Rhino Care Team continues to closely monitor Kiazi and Zuri’s “aunt” Dakari, with whom Zuri spent most of her time, and is providing them with extra care following the loss of their daughter and herd-mate.

The largest of the five rhino species, southern white rhinos are not actually white in color, despite their name. The name is believed to have originated with the Afrikaans word wyd, meaning “wide” – a reference to the shape of white rhinos’ upper lips.

The species is currently classified as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). While poaching for their horns is a serious issue for all rhinos and has already resulted in the extinctions and near-extinctions of some rhino species, southern white rhinos are especially vulnerable because they often travel in herds in the wild, a behavior that makes it easier for poachers to locate them. Powdered rhino horn is believed by some cultures to possess medicinal properties, although rhino horns are made of keratin – the same substance found in human hair and fingernails – and have no known medicinal value. Zoo Atlanta has supported white rhinos in Namibia through the International Rhino Foundation, one of seven programs supported by the Zoo’s Mabel Dorn Reeder Conservation Endowment Fund in 2026.

A necropsy will be performed through the Zoo’s partnership with the University of Georgia Zoo and Exotic Animal Pathology Service in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Preliminary results should be available in several weeks.