Overview
- Linh Mai, a two-month-old Asian elephant, entered the public yard Wednesday in the zoo’s first elephant birth in nearly 25 years.
- Visitors can now see her at the Elephant Trails exhibit or on the restored Elephant Cam, and staff are monitoring how she handles crowds as lines formed early.
- Because she cannot nurse, keepers bottle‑feed her every two hours, and the zoo reports she now weighs about 500 pounds after steady gains.
- After her mother, Nhi Linh, showed aggression following the Feb. 2 birth, keepers separated them, and elder Swarna now stays with the calf as a surrogate and teaches species habits like trunk use.
- Officials highlight the calf’s conservation value as Asian elephants remain endangered with an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 in the wild and slow reproduction driven by long pregnancies and extended care.