Video: Gronk Visits Namesake Rare Baby Rhino At ZooTampa

TAMPA, FL — They may only bear a slight resemblance, but they share a love of kicking around a ball and eating ice cream cake.

ZooTampa at Lowry Park's greater one-horned baby rhino calf has been officially named Gronk after Tampa Bay Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski.

The little guy celebrated getting his new name with a football-themed ice cream cake, party decorations, a Bucs-themed boomer ball he can kick around the rhino encounter and a visit from Gronk himself.

Little Gronk was born to Jamie and Johnny Sept. 12 after Jamie carried her baby for 16 months. Gronk is Jamie's fourth calf and Johnny's first.

It was a birth celebrated worldwide by the Species Survival Plan of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which is attempting to bring the greater one-horned rhino back from the brink of extinction. This rare, endangered species continues to face many threats in the wild.

Here's something Gronkowski can relate to: a group of rhinos is called a "crash," an appropriate term since rhinos group together and literally crash through any threats they encounter in the wilderness like offensive linemen protecting the quarterback.

Otherwise, the greater one-horned rhinos, also known as Indian rhinos though they aren't from India, are considered gentle giants. They're found in the savannas, forests, river valleys and marshes of eastern and southern Africa.

The rhinos reach 5 to 6 feet tall and can weight 4,000 to 6,000 pounds. At less than 2 months old, little Gronk already weighs well over 100 pounds.

If they can avoid poachers who hunt the rhinos for their horns, prized as an aphrodisiac in some cultures, they can live to be 25 to 45 years old.

ZooTampa has two species – the southern white rhino and the greater one-horned rhino.

Unlike southern white rhinos, the Indian rhino is one of just two species of rhino that only has one horn and their skin looks like armor.