Meet J Gregory, the Sacramento Zoo’s first rhino and largest retiree

Earlier this week, the Sacramento Zoo welcomed its first-ever rhinoceros. 

The zoo’s newest resident, J Gregory, is a 28-year-old southern white rhino who arrived Tuesday in Sacramento from his previous home in San Diego. Weighing in at just over 4,500 pounds, he’s officially the largest animal currently housed at the Sacramento Zoo. 

Jocelyn Katzakian, the zoo’s ungulate (hoofed mammal) keeper, described him as a “slightly older rhino.” Typically, she said these rhinos live into their 30s and sometimes into their 40s, if they’re in particularly good health. 

“We're his retirement home … which means we just get to spoil him absolutely rotten,” Katzakian said. “He is going to spend most of his days napping.” 

In a few years, J Gregory and the other zoo animals will be moved to the zoo’s new — and larger — location in Elk Grove. Lesley Kirrene, a spokesperson for the zoo, said the new zoo location will likely break ground in 2025, followed by the first phase of its opening in late 2028 or early 2029.

“We chose to bring him in to help show people … these large species that we can house at the new zoo that we're trying to build in Elk Grove,” Katzakian said. 

She said his presence also helps in creating more awareness about this near-threatened species of rhino.

“Being able to have him as an ambassador to his species helps make that connection from people here in Sacramento to potentially those rhinos out in Africa that need our help,” Katzakian said. 

At the Elk Grove location, Katzakian said animals like J Gregory will have more space to roam. She said the zoo also plans to bring more white rhinos once moved to the new location and, further in the future, breed them there — meaning more friends for J Gregory. 

For now, visitors can find him in his new habitat between the zebra and Galapagos tortoise enclosures, across from the chimpanzee exhibit.