{"id":270644,"date":"2026-02-06T11:56:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/270644\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:56:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:56:20","slug":"see-the-first-baby-elephant-born-at-smithsonians-national-zoo-in-nearly-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/270644\/","title":{"rendered":"See the first baby elephant born at Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo in nearly 25 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n A female Asian elephant<\/a> calf has been born at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo\u202fand Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI)<\/a> in Washington, DC, the first in almost a quarter of a century.\n <\/p>\n

\n The baby, whose name will be chosen in a public poll, was born to mother Nhi Linh, 12, and father Spike, 44, at 1.15 a.m. ET on Monday, according to a statement from the zoo, published Tuesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n A neonatal exam revealed that the calf \u201cappeared healthy, alert and bright-eyed,\u201d weighed 308 pounds (140 kilograms) and stood 38.5 inches (98 centimeters) tall, the zoo said.\n <\/p>\n

\"116890_BabyElephantHRZ.00_00_02_06.Still001.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Adorable Asian elephant born at Washington\u2019s National Zoo\n <\/p>\n

\"116890_BabyElephantHRZ.00_00_02_06.Still001.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Adorable Asian elephant born at Washington\u2019s National Zoo<\/p>\n

0:38 <\/p>\n

\n Asian elephants, of which the zoo has six adults plus the new arrival, are an endangered species, and their pregnancies last 18-22 months on average.\n <\/p>\n

\n This is Nhi Linh\u2019s first child, born following a 21-month pregnancy. Spike has fathered three other calves at other zoos but none survived, the zoo said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBecause Nhi Linh and Spike\u2019s genes are not well represented in zoos, their calf will help strengthen the genetic diversity of the Asian elephant population in North America and around the world,\u201d the statement said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Brandie Smith, the John and Adrienne Mars director of NZCBI, said the birth filled the team with \u201cprofound joy\u201d after a wait of nearly 25 years for a calf.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen you see the calf and those heartwarming interactions with the herd, I hope you\u2019ll be inspired to help save this endangered species,\u201d Smith said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhat we learn from our elephants in D.C. directly strengthens our work to protect wild Asian elephants across Southeast Asia,\u201d she added.\n <\/p>\n

\n The calf will now spend up to a month bonding with her mother, herd members and keepers out of the public eye before she moves into the zoo exhibit.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAsian elephants are an intelligent, sensitive and social species, so building these bonds is critical to the calf\u2019s development,\u201d the zoo said.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n \u201cKeepers are looking forward to learning if the calf will take after Spike, who is relaxed and easygoing, or be feisty and rambunctious like Nhi Linh,\u201d it added.\n <\/p>\n

\n Members of the public are invited to vote<\/a> for one of four names for the baby. The names have been selected by the elephant-care team and are inspired by mother Nhi Linh\u2019s name, which is of Vietnamese origin.\n <\/p>\n

\n The first option is Linh Mai, or spirit blossom, and the second is Th\u1ea3o Nhi, which means gentle and beloved.\n <\/p>\n

\n Option three is T\u00fa Anh, with T\u00fa meaning talented or gifted and Anh defined as bright and intelligent.\n <\/p>\n

\n Lastly, voters can opt for Tuy\u1ebft, which means \u201csnow\u201d and alludes to the fact that the baby was born in the winter.\n <\/p>\n

\n The poll will close on February 13.\n <\/p>\n

\n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex\u2019s Perpetual Planet Initiative<\/a> has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A female Asian elephant calf has been born at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo\u202fand Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-270644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}