{"id":305749,"date":"2025-11-25T10:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T10:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/305749\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T10:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T10:51:07","slug":"the-national-zoo-is-expecting-a-baby-elephant-heres-why-it-could-be-a-mammoth-feat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/305749\/","title":{"rendered":"The National Zoo Is Expecting A Baby Elephant \u2014 Here’s Why It Could Be A Mammoth Feat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo<\/a> and the Conservation Biology Institute announced on Monday that 12-year-old Asian elephant<\/a> Nhi Linh is pregnant and could give birth to the zoo\u2019s first elephant calf in nearly a quarter-century.<\/p>\n

Asian elephant pregnancies last an average of 18 to 22 months, according to the zoo. Staffers are \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d that Nhi Linh will deliver a healthy calf sometime between mid-January and early March, according to the zoo\u2019s press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Spike, a 44-year-old Asian elephant who has been with the zoo since 2018,<\/a> sired the calf. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is huge, and certainly for our facility, we haven\u2019t had a baby on the ground for quite some time,\u201d said Dr. Donald Neiffer, the zoo\u2019s chief veterinarian, in an interview<\/a> with \u201cToday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything right now is pointing to … we expect a normal delivery,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Asian elephants are an endangered species, with fewer than 50,000 left in the world. And the zoo has seen just two elephant births in its 136-year history, The Washington Post\u2019s Michael E. Ruane noted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AsianAsian elephant Nhi Linh (foreground) is due to give birth between mid-January and early March 2026 at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Spike (background) sired the calf.<\/p>\n

Skip Brown, Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute<\/p>\n

Nhi Linh\u2019s 22-year-old mother Trong Nhi also conceived with Spike in April 2024, but her pregnancy ended prematurely. Nhi Linh and Spike\u2019s genes are \u201cnot well represented in zoos,\u201d meaning their calf will \u201chelp strengthen the genetic diversity\u201d of Asian elephants in North America and beyond.<\/p>\n

Brandie Smith, the zoo\u2019s director, said the calf \u201crepresents real hope for the future of Asian elephants.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first step to saving any species is getting people to care. As animal ambassadors, elephant calves are as charming and charismatic as they come,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI can\u2019t wait for visitors to experience the joy of watching our multigenerational herd socialize, play and learn \u2014 reminding us how much we share with these gentle, intelligent animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once born, the calf will join a herd consisting of its parents, grandmother Trong Nhi, 51-year-old Bozie, 51-year-old Swarna and 35-year-old Maharani.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo and the Conservation Biology Institute announced on Monday that 12-year-old Asian elephant Nhi Linh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2837,49,48,41791,18156,66,137054,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-305749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-elephants","12":"tag-endangered-species","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-smithsonian-national-zoo","15":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}