Sunbed for Rhinos at Dutch zoo

Reuters in Amsterdam
Saturday February 12, 2005
The Guardian

A Dutch zoo is giving its rhinoceroses sunbed treatment to make up for the lack of sunlight in the grey winter months.

Rhinos Jennifer and Petra spend up to 20 minutes a time using their custom-built four-metre-long (13ft) sunbed.

The rhinos, 32 and 23 years old, need sunshine and regular wallows in a mud pool to keep their skin healthy, biologist Wybren Landman at Emmen zoo, northern Netherlands, said yesterday. But in winter, when temperatures often dip below zero, the mud pool is far too cold and they are kept in a stable.

"Their skin was beginning to look a bit flaky and not uniformly grey any more," the biologist said. "They did not have this problem in the summer, so we decided to substitute the sun and ordered a custom-built sunbed."

Rhinos are prone to flaking skin as they get older. Infrared sessions of up to 20 minutes and much shorter ultraviolet bouts help the skin blood circulation and provide vitamins.