Wildlife Photos: Rhino

A King is born: Adorable moment baby rhino with royal name greets the world for the first time

Three-week-old King, an eastern black rhino, weighed 60lb at birth
He is one of just 5,000 in the world and the first born in zoo for 24 years
Doctors struggled to hold back tears at his public debut on Tuesday

This is the moment that pushed professional doctors to the brink of tears. Finally, the King is born.Emerging from his stony tower into the golden sunlight, this minuscule baby rhino timidly trotted to greet the world for the first time.

Cute: King made his public debut on Tuesday. He is the first born to eight-year-old Kapuki, and father Maku, 27

Three-week-old King is the first eastern black rhino born in Lincoln Park Zoo for 24 years - putting an end to fears that the endangered species may be nearing extinction. Hornless and frail - weighing just 60lb at birth - King was completely unaware of the euphoria and excitement he had caused, cowering behind his mother, Kapuki. 'I tried not to cry because it was so exciting,' Dr. Rachel Santymire, who helped bring about the conception, told DNAinfo Chicago.

She added: 'The poaching pressure the species is facing is just enormous ... So, to bring another one into the world is just amazing — and he’s just so cute." One of just 5,000 eastern blacks in the world, King has been five years in the planning. The male and female rhinos live in separate compounds, and zookeepers have to meticulously plan ways to bring them together to mate.

They had to judge when each was ready by their own personal signals. Kabuki would excrete. King's father, Maku, would become violently aggressive. The zoo had to wait over a year for the highly-anticipated birth as rhino pregnancies last for 16 months. Finally, on August 26, King arrived, and on Tuesday he made his public debut. Named after King Harris, a longtime Lincoln Park Zoo supporter and member of the Board of Trustees, the baby has a lot to live up to. But the zookeepers said he will have no trouble with that - within minutes of his first public appearance he was adventurously roaming around the yard, sniffing out new scents.