Black rhino celebrates 40th birthday at Port Lympne

Rukwa's birthday cake was made with apples, carrots and currants

A critically endangered black rhino believed to be the oldest in the UK has celebrated her 40th birthday in Kent.

To mark the event, keepers at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park treated Rukwa to a rhino-friendly birthday cake.

Born in 1970, Rukwa has five children and ten grandchildren, two of whom have been returned to protected areas of the wild in Africa by the park.

Head rhino keeper, Paul Beer, said she had played a major role in helping to secure the future of black rhino.

"She is starting to show her age a bit now, her eyesight is going slightly, but she is still full of beans and we hope that she will celebrate many more birthdays to come," he said.

Her birthday cake was made with apples, carrots and currants by a local bakery.