Endangered baby rhino born at Chester Zoo

Thrilled zookeepers at Chester Zoo have watched the birth of the rare greater one-horned rhino live on camera as 15-year-old mother Asha delivered her newborn calf at 4.24pm on October 14.

Heartwarming video footage shows the youngster arriving into the world - already weighing 50kg (more than 7 stone) - before Asha turns around to tenderly nuzzle her newborn, who will grow to around 1.7 tonnes.

Adorable photos show the new arrival bonding closely with her mother and already sporting the same slightly wrinkled armoured plating as her parents.

Zoo keepers have picked three names for the new calf and the public can vote for their favourite.

The final names are Thuli, which is a river in Nepal, Jiya, which is the Indian meaning for sunshine and Bahula, which is the Indian meaning for star.

Conservationists are celebrating the birth of the endangered species as only 3,000 of them remain in the wild.

Greater one-horned rhinos were once found roaming across the entire northern part of the Indian subcontinent, but is now only present in a small area in India and Nepal.

They are listed as vulnerable to extinction as they battle illegal poaching for their horns and habitat loss.

Keepers had to wait patiently for the calf's arrival as greater one-horned rhinos are pregnant for around 15 months.