A beautiful friendship has been forged between the newest baby rhino at Cotswold Wildlife Park and the head keeper’s four-year-old daughter she's been named after.

Births in captivity are considered rare, with only 19 White Rhinos being born in European zoos in the last 12 months.

The latest birth is due to the dedication of the mammal keepers and the park’s commitment to the European Breeding Programme.

That’s why head keeper Mark Godwin, who has been at the park for 31 years and has looked after the ever-growing 'crash' of Rhinos for the last 13 years, was given the rare honour of naming the calf.

He decided to call her Molly after his daughter.

Mark said: “We were all convinced it was going to be a boy and she was going to be called after the owner’s former boss when he worked in Africa, Marcus. As it was, it turned out to be a girl and we didn’t have a name.”

Mark and his family live on-site at the park and Molly and his son Henry have both grown up there and adore Rhinos as much as their dad.

Molly described having a Rhino named after her as “amazing!”.

Mark said: “She pops in the evenings when we’re bringing them in. She can’t feed her as the rhino is not on proper solids yet. She’s mainly on milk from her mum and at about one month they start investigating solids. They start off with their mum’s poo, which is full of flora and fauna, and it kicks off the gut activity.

“They have to maintain a fantastic amount of weight – one and a half to three kilograms a day so the milk has to be topped up.”

Mark has drawn a height chart in chalk on the Rhino House wall recording the Mollys’ heights as they grow up together.

Mark said: “Henry is just a little bit jealous. They both like helping and mucking out – we get a few moans about the smell. Molly has decided she’d like to be a nurse when she’s older like Peppa Pig."

There are currently three baby rhinos born to parents Monty and Ruby at the park, Molly, D’Ora, who was born in lockdown and is just over a year old, and Ruby’s older daughter Stella.

Previous calves have been named after the owner John Heyworth, and highly respected South African conservationist, Ian Player, who spearheaded efforts to rescue the Southern White Rhino from extinction.

Ruby was named after writer, comedienne and long-time friend of the park, Ruby Wax, in 2009.