On August 18th, the Fort Worth Zoo welcomed its newest resident, a baby elephant, to the family. Since then, they’ve shared several behind-the-scenes videos of her growth as she explores the world around her. She’s healthy and hitting all of her milestones, including learning how to use her trunk.
The zoo shared a video of her practicing her trunk skills in the cutest way possible. Like many infants, she’s tired from all of the day’s adventures, but still willing to work for a treat. Instead of standing up and focusing on the task at hand, the little one opted for the lazy way – lying down to get closer to the treat!
Fort Worth Zoo explained more in the video’s caption, “Did you know that elephant trunks have more than 40,000 muscles in them? An elephant calf isn’t born with full function of its trunk but slowly learns how to use all those muscles over its first few months of life!”
Commenters also got a kick out of watching the baby practice her new skills. @Cathy Waters said, “She is precious!” @TrulyJulie2 added, “And she’s so fuzzy!”
@Country shared, “I only dream I could be that relaxed…” and we cracked up after reading @NinaBeena’s question, “Can I bring a lawn chair? To just sit and watch the bebe all day?? asking for a friend.”
Related: Help the Fort Worth Zoo Pick a Name for Their New Baby Elephant!
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What is Fort Worth Zoo’s Baby Elephant’s Name?
This little girl is a big deal at the zoo because she’s the first female Asian elephant calf born there since 2013. At birth, she measured 36 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds! She’s still just an infant and sticks close to her mom, Bluebonnet. The zoo recently offered fans to help pick the baby’s name, and people couldn’t wait to vote for their favorite (we voted, too!)
On their website, the zoo shared their tradition when it comes to choosing names for their baby elephants. All of the elephant calves born there sport Texas-themed names, and for this little girl, they wanted Texas flower-themed names, as a nod to mom, Bluebonnet.
Three names were in the running, and the zoo asked fans to vote for their favorite. The names were Birdie, in honor of Lady Bird, the beloved First Lady from Texas who was known for her love of nature and wildflowers, Susie, named after the Texas-native wildflower black-eyed Susans that are a symbol of encouragement and joy, or Rosie, chosen from a famous Texas song and legend about the “Yellow Rose of Texas.” They’re all super cute names, but there can only be one winner. They shared a TikTok earlier this week introducing the winning name.
Lady Bird wasn’t the name we voted for, but we still love it! And just look at all those special treats she got to share with her mom to celebrate. Congrats Birdie! We can’t wait to watch you grow!
This story was originally reported by PetHelpful on Oct 9, 2025, where it first appeared in the Pet News section. Add PetHelpful as a Preferred Source by clicking here.