Fort Worth Zoo Reveals Baby Rhino's Name

Rhino now named Asha, which means "hope"

The Fort Worth Zoo has revealed the name of a baby rhino born at the zoo Aug. 16.

To commemorate the birth, the zoo asked the public to pick their favorite name from a list created by zoo officials -- and the public overwhelmingly selected the name Asha.

Asha is Nepalese for "hope" and received more than half of the 3,300 votes cast on the zoo's Facebook page.

The rhino calf is a rare greater one-horned rhinoceros and is the first of her species to be born in Texas.

Asha was born to 25-year-old mom Shanti and 22-year-old dad Arun.  She is the fifth successful offspring for mom, who is on loan from the San Francisco Zoo, and the 27th for dad who has lived in Fort Worth since 1990.

The one-horned species is named for the single horn atop their head, which can grow to 2 feet in length.  They also have thick folds of skin on their body that make it appear as if they are wearing armor.

Rhino babies weigh a whopping 130 pounds on average when they are born and can grow up to 2 tons, or 4,000 pounds.

Asha and Shanti can now be seen on exhibit in the Zoo’s Asian Falls exhibit.

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