WHEN you are just a month old, putting one foot in front of the other is not quite as easy as it looks.

Born on New Year's Eve at Marwell Zoological Park, near Winchester, baby white rhino Shaka is settling in nicely to his Hampshire home and learning the ways of his mum, Sula.

Marwell's Gaynor Worman said: "He makes a daily expedition with his mum, Sula, and gets in some exercise - she sets the pace and he keeps up as well as he can.

"Rhinos are remarkably nimble for such immense animals."

Meanwhile, it was not just we humans who were taken by surprise when a freak blizzard hit the county this week.

The animals at Marwell woke up this week to be dazzled by snowy surroundings - and some of them were more used to the winter chill than others!

Boomer the ostrich strutted around his enclosure in wonderment but staff at the zoo were adamant that he had more pressing things on his mind.

A spokesman said: "Boomer's feeling left out in the cold because he wasn't invited to take part in the challenge with Johnny Rotten on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!"

Despite being a snow leopard, six-month-old Binu got her first taste of the white stuff and liked what she saw.

The cute cub was the first snow leopard to be born at the zoo for some years - far away from her native home in the mountains of central Asia.

Over in the meerkat enclosure, one of the sun-loving creatures stayed as close as possible to a heat lamp.

The desert dwellers like to bask in the sunshine in their natural habitat of southern Africa but at Marwell they're happy to make do with the artificial stuff.

One of the zoo's feathered friends - a black swan - found it hard to stand still and hopped from one foot to another. The swan, with its distinctive black plumage, white flight feathers and red beak, hails from the warmer climes of Australia and New Zealand.