Rhino hide-away has £500,000 price tag

With an indoor pool, central heating and a hefty £500,000 price tag, it sounds like an ideal home for high-fliers wanting to live in style.

But this luxury pad is not your average home – it actually belongs to two young rhinos.Young couple Sophie and Rap, both greater one-horned Indian rhinos, moved into their home at the West Midland Safari Park in January.

And the pair are settling in nicely into the enclosure, which includes central heating, rubber-lined floor, beds made of bark and a heated indoor pool.

Work on the rhinos' new home started in September, and director of wildlife Bob Lawrence said it is considered to be one of the best rhino facilities in the UK.

"In conservation terms this is the most significant addition to the animal reserves for many years," he added.

"It's a culmination of five years in pursuit of what seemed an impossible dream at times and now that these magnificent animals are here all of the hard work has certainly been worth it."

It is the first time the park has hosted the breed since it opened 37 years ago.

Now the pair have been released from quarantine, visitors will be able to see five-year-old female Sophie and two-year-old male Rap in the new Realm of the Indian Rhino exhibit.

Originating from the Nepalese region of the Chitwan Valley National Park and India's Kaziranga National Park, the Indian rhino are famous for their prehistoric appearance and their placid temperament.

They can live for up to 50 years.West Midlands Safari Park spokeswoman Wendy Jackson said once they had matured to around six years old staff would start looking at a breeding programme

."Breeding is obviously a key consideration for us," she said.

"But as they are still young we are focussing on getting them settled in, which they seem to be doing very well."