A pair of Dubbo-born male white rhinoceros will be on show at Mogo Zoo by the end of the year. 

The enclosure for the rhinos is on track and according to Mogo Zoo operations manager Paul Whitehorn will be a “world-class exhibit”. 

“Bringing this particular pair of rhinos here has been a year to 18 months in the making,” Mr Whitehorn said. 

The rhinos, from the Australia Zoo in Queensland, will be the biggest animals at Mogo Zoo, weighing in at three-to-three-and-a-half tonnes each.

Mr Whitehorn said rhinoceros were not hard to please and were good natured.  

“All they need is a sand wallow, and a mud wallow and life is pretty much complete for them,” Mr Whitehorn said. 

“Visitors will be able to interact with the rhinos through our animal encounter program.”

It is expected the two boys will be together at Mogo Zoo for three years before they are split up and a female moves in for breeding.

The enclosure will be 

surrounded by a rock wall and thick metal cable running through large logs, making the rhinos visible from every part of the viewing platform. 

“Wherever they are, visitors will be able to see them,” Mr Whitehorn said. 

“The rhinos like a flat surface and don’t climb.”

Forestry Corporation donated three truckloads of logs for the rhino enclosure and other parts of the zoo. 

“Forestry has been outstanding,” Mr Whitehorn said. 

At night the rhinos will be housed in a 24-by-eight-metre shed with heated floors and a keeper corridor. 

Mr Whitehorn said the rhinos would be managed with protected contact because “something that size can turn quickly”.

“They have quite bad eye- sight and depend on their hearing so if it gets windy they tend to get a bit flighty,” he said. 

Placed at the bottom-end of the zoo, the enclosure will allow for the zebras and giraffes to be housed  together again. 

“We will turn the three savannah areas into one and have the zebras and giraffes in together again,” Mr Whitehorn said. 

“It will become an interpretation of an African savannah area.

“The pathway to the enclosure will come around in a circle, joining up to the current path at the primate island and allow the bottom end of the zoo to flow better.”

Zoo owner Sally Padey was hopeful the new addition to the zoo would benefit the whole community. 

“I’m hoping that it will be an outstanding thing for everyone in the area,” she said.

“Mogo Zoo attracts so much international attention as well that it brings a lot of amazing things to this area.”

Ms Padey said to have something like this in our region was “pretty awe- inspiring”. 

“It is a truly amazing thing that they are finally going to be here and it is an amazing exhibit we are building for them,” she said. 

“Personally, it is an amazing thing that after all this time they are finally going to be at Mogo Zoo.”

Like the gorillas, Ms Padey said the rhinos were sure to be a major attraction. 

“There are a lot of people around here that love rhinos,” she said. 

The rhinos are due by the end of October.