Mac, our white rhinoceros

At PAL, I live in the African Savannah alongside Alan and Malabar, two males, aged 6 and 7 respectively. We share our playground with Rothschild giraffes, zebras, Cape elands, nyalas, ostriches, an oryx and typical African birds such as the crowned crane.

I go back into the building every morning to give my keepers a chance to clean the plain. When I come back out, I spend the rest of my time in the enclosure enjoying my wallows and grazing.

I prefer my keepers to pronounce my name "Mec" rather than "Mac" even though my first name is indeed written like this: I'm Irish!

I love opening doors when I can. So, I love playing with these same doors to annoy my keepers.

Another particularity for me and my peers: I love mud baths and I must say that we are rather spoiled at PAL since we find three mud baths on the African plain and one in our winter plain. In summer, these baths are essential to fight against sunburn and high temperatures.

As already mentioned, we are not the only ones to benefit from this African plain and it is part of the new facilities at PAL. The management and my keepers have made sure that our neighbors on the plain are the same as in nature: a real enrichment for us and a beautiful view for visitors and guests of the PAL Savana RESERVE.

We live on a 4 ha plain with varied topography (plains, mounds, wooded areas, rocks, etc.) which allows us to broaden the range of our natural behaviors!

Did you know? You can find a reconstruction of a prehistoric cousin of Mac who lived in Gannat (03) 23 million years ago, at the Paléopolis park, the diaceratherium lemanense.

Did you know ?

“I am one of the only unicorns in Allier!”