An Asian Elephant Was Born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo for the First Time in Almost 25 Years. Now, You Can Help Pick Her Name
In the wee hours of February 2, the world welcomed a new Asian elephant. She is the first calf of this species born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) since late 2001.
Soon after the baby’s birth at 1:15 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, staff performed a neonatal exam and deemed her “healthy, alert and bright-eyed,” according to a statement. At the time, she weighed 308 pounds and measured 38.5 inches tall.
Assisting with the exam is “really hard to describe, because it’s something I’ve wanted to do for years,” Robbie Clark, elephant manager and acting curator of Elephant Trails at NZCBI, tells Smithsonian magazine. “I’m honestly still absorbing what happened. I haven’t slept since she was born.”
This bundle of joy was born to first-time mother Nhi Linh, who is 12 years old, after a 21-month-long pregnancy. She bred with 44-year-old Spike in April 2024. The calf will not be viewable by Zoo visitors for up to a month while she bonds with her mom, the rest of the herd and animal care staff.
The baby doesn’t have a name yet, and NZCBI wants the public to help choose it. From today through February 13 at 12 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, fans who donate at least $5 to Asian elephant care and conservation through the Zoo’s website can choose from four options of Vietnamese origin, and $1 represents one vote:
Linh Mai [LIN-my]: Linh means “spirit” or “soul”; Mai refers to the apricot blossom, a flower associated with Tết (Lunar New Year), which begins February 17.
Thảo Nhi [TOW-nee]: Thảo means “gentle” or “kind” and is associated with nature; Nhi means “small,” “little one” or “beloved.”
Tú Anh [TOO-ahng]: Tú means “talented” or “gifted”; Anh means “bright” and “intelligent.”
Tuyết [TWET]: traditionally means “snow,” referencing the calf’s winter birth.
NZCBI will announce the calf’s name on its website in late February.
Parents Nhi Linh and Spike bred as part of a Species Survival Plan program, managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, that aims to create a stable, genetically diverse population of Asian elephants. Fewer than 52,000 of these animals are estimated to remain in their homeland of South and Southeast Asia. “Asian elephants are very endangered. Actually, they’re ten times more endangered than African elephants,” Peter Leimgruber, NZCBI’s director of conservation and science, tells Smithsonian magazine.
The species’ population continues to dwindle largely because of human-induced habitat loss from activities such as agriculture, mining and urbanization. But insights gained at the Zoo can help conservationists working with wild Asian elephants.
“Many of the things we learn here—technologies, the science—we can directly transfer to these places [where the animals live],” Leimgruber says. For example, staff could show people how to monitor the elephants’ reproductive cycles via hormones and determine which individuals should be bred to maintain genetic diversity, he notes.
Genetics, health and temperament helped experts determine that Spike and Nhi Linh should breed. Nhi Linh is described as having a “feisty and rambunctious” personality, per the statement. She arrived in the fall of 2022, along with her mother, 22-year-old Trong Nhi, as a gift from the Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Spike seems to have a “relaxed and easygoing” personality, according to keepers, and came to NZCBI in the spring of 2018 on loan from Zoo Miami.
Zoo staff have been carefully monitoring Nhi Linh over the past few months. In late January, blood draws revealed that her levels of the hormone progesterone had plummeted—a signal that she would soon give birth. On January 25, the care team began an around-the-clock watch to keep an eye out for behavioral signs of labor, such as tail flapping and abdominal muscle contractions.
A big indicator is something called the bulge. “That’s when the calf has moved with contractions to a point where you can see externally it’s pushing and getting ready to move,” Clark says. That happened soon after 12:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time on February 2, he adds, “and within a half hour, her water had broken and the calf was on the ground.”
The calf has not yet met her mother. The two can smell and hear one another, but a barrier sits between them. Staff are watching behavioral cues to assess when Nhi Linh might be ready to meet her baby. An encouraging sign that they’re currently seeing is Nhi Linh being the only elephant to respond to the calf’s calls, Clark says.
“Once we can secure that bond—and typically, the magic point is nursing—then we’ll give them a little time to learn how to orientate around each other,” he says.
