This is the moment a cute baby elephant celebrates the World Cup \u2013 by \u201cplaying football.\u201d<\/p>\n
The male Asian elephant calf was delivered at Whipsnade Zoo, in Bedfordshire, on Monday (June 8), weighing 110kg (243lb) and measuring 1m (3.3ft) tall.<\/p>\n
He is the first Asian elephant to be born at the zoo since 2022, following a 22-month pregnancy.<\/p>\n
The recording, taken on June 10, shows the football-obsessed elephant kicking around a red ball. Whipsnade Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
But within 10 minutes of being born, the as-yet unnamed animal had risen to his feet and made his first wobbly steps.<\/p>\n
The recording, taken on June 10, shows the football-obsessed elephant kicking around a red ball.<\/p>\n
It had been put into the youngster\u2019s pen to play with \u2013 although he is still finding his feet and often trips over the toy.<\/p>\n
The ball had been put into the youngster\u2019s pen to play with, although he is still finding his feet and often trips over the toy. Whipsnade Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
The calf was born to mother Donna, who has been seen guarding the calf protectively as he naps.<\/p>\n
According to keepers, the calf is an important addition to the European breeding programme of Asian elephants.<\/p>\n
It comes as there are fewer than 52,000 of them left in the wild, and they are listed as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.<\/p>\n
According to keepers, the calf is an important addition to the European breeding programme of Asian elephants. Whipsnade Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
Whipsnade Zoo\u2019s section manager of elephants, Stefan Groeneveld, said: \u201cThe excitement we\u2019re feeling at the arrival of this calf is almost impossible to put into words.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing success for Donna, and our herd at Whipsnade Zoo, and mum and calf are both doing brilliantly, which is exactly what we hoped for.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonna has been an exceptional mother from the moment her calf arrived; she\u2019s clearly learnt from her experience raising his sister Nang Phaya, and she\u2019ll be setting a really important example for when Phaya eventually has her own calf.<\/p>\n
The male Asian elephant calf was delivered at Whipsnade Zoo, in Bedfordshire, on June 8, weighing 243lb and measuring 3.3ft tall. Whipsnade Zoo \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Asian elephants facing so many challenges in the wild, this calf represents real hope for the future of the species.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new calf arrived on the 200th anniversary year of the Zoological Society of London, which runs Whipsnade Zoo, so the team has invited the public to help pick a name for the calf in celebration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the moment a cute baby elephant celebrates the World Cup \u2013 by \u201cplaying football.\u201d The male…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1147,3995,10557,79,201,153412,965],"class_list":["post-705854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-asia","tag-elephants","tag-science","tag-wildlife","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}