Watch the Rhino baby

"It's been an absolute privilege to be in such close proximity to Sita at this amazing moment." Andrew Brown, BBC Inside Out.

Sita - the proud mother

The big Rhino birth!

Inside Out follows the story of a black Rhino birth at Paignton Zoo from the early stages of pregnancy through to the arrival of the baby calf.

Black Rhinos are a critically endangered species so the birth of a calf is an eagerly anticipated event.

We break new ground in giving you the opportunity to witness the first days of a Rhino's life.

You can watch the whole story on Inside Out England on Friday 13 April.

Visit the Rhino photo gallery on BBC Devon

Watch the BBC Devon Rhino webcam archive

Watching the birth

After a 15-month pregnancy - and in the full glare of the watching world - Sita the Paignton Zoo black Rhino gave birth to her calf.

Sita paced around her den restlessly in the hours leading up to the birth, giving an indication the big moment was imminent.

She started going into labour at around 7.40pm on Monday 5 March, 2007.

The calf emerged around half an hour later at 8.10pm.

After a shaky start the baby girl, called Zuri, is doing well.

Go inside the paddock to see the Rhino baby with Inside Out

And it's a very special little girl because 75 per cent of black Rhinos born in captivity are male.

It took her over five hours to find her feet and a further hour to take her first feed from her mum.

At around 1am on Tuesday 6 March keepers at Paignton Zoo had to coax Sita to a safe area away from her calf so they could get into the enclosure to take a closer look.

After checking the calf was healthy they were able to move her to a newly laid bed of straw.

Zoo keepers have been watching her closely and continue their vigilance as this is the first time a Rhino calf has been born at the Zoo.

First steps...

Neil Bemment, Head of Mammals at Paignton Zoo, said:

"We're really pleased we've had a successful birth.

"Everything seems to have gone smoothly. Sita was a little bewildered by the new arrival.

"The calf wasn't in any hurry to get up, and in the end we had to go into the enclosure and give it a helping hand.

"As soon as the calf got to its feet, Sita started showing more interest."

At birth the calf will have weighed around 40 kilos (80 pounds).

Head Rhino Keeper, Jason Knight, said it was a long and anxious wait before the young Rhino took its first steps:

"We were hoping to see it get up in the first few hours because the calf needs to get to mum to feed."

World first

Webcam archive

"A black Rhino birth has never been filmed before." Andrew Brown

Sita with her tiny calf

Watch the BBC Devon webcam archive

This is the first time that a black Rhino birth has ever been filmed.

We dug out the Springwatch cameras and installed them at Paignton Zoo to bring this amazing event direct to your home.

Sita, the pregnant Rhino, was filmed 24 hours a day.

Inside Out Producer Andrew Brown has spent a lot of his time monitoring the mother and calf's progress from the beginning of the pregnancy to the birth.

It's been an amazing journey, as Andrew explains:

"It's been an absolute privilege to be in such close proximity to Sita at this amazing moment.

"A black Rhino birth has never been filmed before and we were able to get exclusive access during the nail-biting first few hours of the calf's life.

"Since we began filming the rhino enclosure nearly two months ago the website has received more than 400,000 visits."

The calf is doing very well, and Sita has proven to be a good mother.

The number of visitors at the zoo has increased dramatically, proving that the baby calf is a hit with the public.

Watch the full story...

Watch the full story of the Rhino birth on BBC Inside Out England on Friday April 13 at 7.30pm on BBC One.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC Devon - Rhino News
• BBC Devon - Rhino wallpaper
• BBC Devon - Rhino archive
• Paignton Zoo

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites

The black Rhino -a critically endangered species

Fact File - Black Rhino

* Black Rhino are critically endangered.

* There are now thought to be less than 3,100 black Rhino living in the wild in East and Southern Africa.

* Rhinos can live for up to 45 years in zoos.

* Paignton Zoo supports practical Rhino conservation work in Zimbabwe and Malawi. Conservation work in Zoos is also playing a key role in the survival of the species.

* The parents-to-be are Kingo and Sita.

* Kingo (male) is 23-years- old and has already fathered four calves. He weighs in at 1.8 tonnes and came to Paignton Zoo in 2003 from Port Lympe Zoo in Kent.

* Sita is 16 years old, weighs 1.3 tonnes and is a first time mum. She came from Berlin Zoo in 2002.

* Sita will stay with her calf until it is able to look after itself but black Rhinos are solitary animals so Kingo lives in an adjacent paddock.

* Kingo and Sita are part of the coordinated European Endangered species Programme (EEP) for black rhino.

* This is the first black rhino to be born at Paignton Zoo. At birth the calf could weigh around 40kg.

* The cameras being used were first developed for the Channel 4 series Big Brother and have since been used for the BBC's Springwatch and Autumnwatch series.

* The camera can pan and tilt at 360 degrees - it uses infra red to film in the dark so whatever happens we won't miss a thing.

BBC Inside Out South West - Friday April 13, 2007