'Giant bundle of joy' baby rhino born at Whipsnade Zoo

• Watch the baby rhino getting comfortable in his enclosure

A baby rhino who was struggling to get the hang of feeding from his mother is now confidently stomping around his enclosure, said zookeepers.

The white rhino calf, who is yet to be named, was born at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire on 2 October.

After a 16-month pregnancy, seven-year-old Fahari went into labour and gave birth to the calf who keepers estimate weighs less than 50kg.

Rhino keepers at the zoo say the calf struggled to get the hang of feeding from his mother at first but, after some perseverance, both mother and calf had worked out what to do.

Rhino keeper Alex Simpson said: "Fahari is already proving to be a protective mum and likes to keep her baby in her eyeline.

"But to suckle, he needs to stand under her belly and by her back legs, so we think at first they were struggling to work out the logistics of everything.

"But he’s feeding well now, and it's really sweet to see them figure out all these new experiences together.

"The calf is smaller than some of the previous calves that have been born here, but he has a very healthy appetite.

"You can hear him making little noises, almost like whale song, when he wants milk - and we’ve even seen him stomp his comically large feet a few times when he is impatient for food."

The calf joins his seven-month old half-brother, Benja, who was born at the zoo in March.

With just 17,500 southern white rhinos left in the wild, zookeepers said both rhino calves marked "an important step forward in the European breeding programme (EEP) which helps to create a genetically diverse and healthy back up population in conservation zoos like Whipsnade".

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