Glitter Helps Zookeepers Understand Rhino Fertility
Topic: Animals
Tue 21 Jul 2026 at 6:03am
Tue 21 Jul 2026 at 11:36am
Monarto Safari Park feeds glitter to southern white rhinos to track their reproductive cycles.
In short:
Zookeepers at Monarto Safari Park use glitter to monitor the fertility of their youngest southern white rhinoceros.
The glitter helps tell each rhino's poop apart, which is sent for hormone testing.
This method was used before on older rhinos and African Painted Dogs at Monarto.
Zookeepers look for sparkles in rhinoceros poop to learn about their fertility.
Monarto Safari Park uses edible glitter to track the reproductive cycles of two young southern white rhinos, Carrie and Savannah.
The rhinos are given different colored glitter to tell their poop apart.
Carrie and Savannah live at Monarto Safari Park.
The zoo tried many colors before choosing blue and gold glitter.
The colors make it easier to collect poop samples from the rhinos' communal dung piles.
Haidee Kinter says glitter makes collecting samples easier.
Keepers check all the dung piles for the sparkly poop.
Blue and gold glitter work best for now.
Haidee Kinter says poop tests can find pregnancies earlier than blood tests.
The rhinos are fed glitter with lucerne hay.
The rhinos love eating the glitter with hay.
They know when the glitter is there because they have a great sense of smell.
Detecting pregnancy using poop
Glitter is used to track health concerns in animals, like lions and polar bears.
The young rhinos' reproductive cycles change, and poop tests can find pregnancies earlier.
Blood tests may not show pregnancy until six months in.
Poop tests might find pregnancy earlier.
This helps introduce males at the right time.
Savannah eats edible glitter at Monarto Safari Park.
The zoo works with fertility specialists to test the poop samples.
Successful calving
Keepers worked with the vet team before giving glitter to Carrie and Savannah.
The method was used on older rhinos, Uhura and Umqali, 10 years ago.
Seven calves were born to Uhura and Umqali since 2005.
Umqali and her calf Imani in 2018.
Southern white rhinos are vulnerable due to poaching and the black market.
About 18,000 southern white rhinos live in protected areas.
The six white rhinos at Monarto are important for the species' survival.
At one point, 1,000 rhinos were lost to poaching each year.
The rhinos at Monarto are an insurance population for the species.
They are important for the long-term survival of the species.
Zookeepers feed rhinos like Savannah glitter to track fertility.
Faecal marking was used on African Painted Dogs, but not on other animals.
The team was creative in using glitter to solve a problem.
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