The name comes second in the zoo’s announcement. “Rhino Rapti has died.” And that makes it clear that this is a special animal that no longer lives in Hellabrunn. In several ways.
On the one hand, every Indian rhinoceros is special; it differs from its closest relatives, the white and black rhinoceros, in that it only has one horn. The others naturally have two. However, Rapti wasn’t the last unicorn in the zoo, as there is also Niko, the male counterpart, who has his outdoor enclosure opposite the rhino playground and often hangs out in his waterhole in the summer, very close to the visitors.
However, Rapti liked to be even closer to the Munich people, her enclosure was opposite that of the tigers. Very regularly, especially in summer, Rapti could be seen bathing right on the railing next to the visitors, sometimes only ears and nose could be seen above the water.
Rapti, most zoo visitors probably know this name, after all it has been an important part of the zoo for a very long time. In 1990, Rapti came to Munich from Nepal as an orphan. In 2015, an offspring named Puri was born. The son now lives in Basel.
If an animal that weighs several tons (1,800 kilograms) and is so eye-catching lives in the zoo for 34 years, then at some point it will belong to the family, at least to the Munich zoo family. Just like it was with the deceased brown bear Olga or elephant Steffi. A character animal, as they say at the zoo, but it has now died.
The zoo assumes a natural cause of death; rhinos live to be between 30 and 40 years old in the wild. As with all deceased zoo animals, the carcass is currently being examined in the LMU pathology department. Rapti was found lifeless this Thursday morning; the fire department helped lift the animal into a container and drive it to LMU.
Life and death are a natural part of the zoo. You always have to be very careful, especially the zoo employees, not to anthropomorphize animals. But sometimes it’s not that easy. Zoo boss Rasem Baban says: “Rapti was an extraordinary animal for us, he had been here for 34 years.” Some zookeepers grew up with this rhino. “That’s a loss – and emotional too.” Probably not just for the team in Hellabrunn.
