Toronto Zoo welcomes a baby rhino and it's an adorable stompy menace

The Toronto Zoo’s newest addition could grow up to be an over-5000-pound beast, but, for now, the tiny two-week-old baby white rhinoceros is an adorably playful little armoured warfare doggo with an incredible camera presence.

The Zoo has been showing off clips of the sturdy little panzer-pupper, affectionately known as TZ Tank Puppy. The happy little (relatively speaking) scamp is the second calf of 14-year-old Zoo resident Sabi, coming into the world at approximately 8 am on December 28.

The public got a first glimpse of the enormous wrinkly baby just two days after birth, stumbling around his enclosure on simultaneously wobbly yet firmly planted, big stompy hooves.

Hi world, I is here 🦏 #TZTankPuppy pic.twitter.com/L9xvUQocU4

— The Toronto Zoo (@TheTorontoZoo) December 30, 2023

But that first look at the young calf was nothing compared to the longer clip released by the Zoo on Thursday, showing the baby rhino play-sparring with his mother and prancing around before gracing the camera with heartwarming nose boop.

Morning playtime with #TZTankPuppy 🦏 He is becoming increasingly playful, sparing with mom Sabi and galloping through the Rhino House. pic.twitter.com/SZHmDVBnAl

— The Toronto Zoo (@TheTorontoZoo) January 11, 2024

TZ Tank Puppy follows in the footsteps of Sabi’s first calf, Theo, who departed the zoo in 2021 and is now making headlines from his new home at the Vancouver Zoo.

As cute as its newest addition is, the Toronto Zoo has opted to give the newborn and his mother space to bond, and is advising visitors that the overwhelmingly cute calf will be off-limits until this spring. For now, people can admire the adorably clumsy rhino calf from afar via videos.

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The Zoo frequently shows off its newborn animals, with past new additions that have delighted the public, like multiple baby camels, a pair of almost unbearably cute giraffes, a zebra, an orangutan (held in its mother’s arms for maximum awww value), a trio of endangered tiger cubs and little red panda cubs that could fit in a teacup.

The birth of TZ Tank Puppy is some much-needed happier news for the zoo, which launched into the new year with an unfortunate cyberattack that has left the institution scrambling for a resolution.

It’s also a big win for the threatened species, with fewer than 16,000 white rhinos remaining in the wild.