Baby elephant brings smiles to Chester Zoo

Keepers at Chester Zoo welcomed their newest arrival at the weekend an Asian Elephant calf, making a total of two elephants born at the zoo in the past six months.

The yet-to-be-named baby made its arrival at 10:58pm on Saturday, after mother Thai’s 22-month pregnancy. The latest birth comes just six months after another member of the herd, baby Nayan, was born to mother Sithami.

The two new calves are from the same father, Upali; Chester’s resident bull elephant.

As Thai is an experienced mother of seven, keepers at the zoo are keen to leave her and the rest of the herd to nurse her calf without interference. Eveline De Wolf, Team Leader of the elephant enclosure said: “We’re very excited for Thai and the others. We have one of Thai’s daughters here already and it would be nice for her to have another in the group.”

Visitors to the zoo were originally told they couldn’t visit the elephant house on Sunday. However, the reasons behind the closure were not announced until the keepers had checked all was well with the new arrival. One visitor to the zoo, Karen Gilroy from Chester, said: “We’re glad we decided to visit today. We weren’t expecting it because the last time we visited another baby had just been born.”

Once mother and baby had settled, guests at the zoo were allowed into the elephant house to view the new arrival and family. Keepers were on hand to feed the elephant family as well as keeping the crowds of visitors under control to prevent the elephants becoming spooked.

As the rest of the herd are protective of the new calf, keepers have not yet been able to determine whether it is a male or female. However, Ms De Wolf says the team at Chester are hoping for a girl: “If it is a boy, when it is five or six years old it will start to get boisterous and the older females in the group will kick it out,” she said.

As well as not knowing the newborn’s sex, keepers at the zoo have yet to decide on a name for the elephant. A shortlist is usually chosen by the public, but the final name gets chosen by the keepers as it needs to be suitable for training.

Curator of Mammals, Tim Rowland, is celebrating the arrival. He said: “The arrival of an elephant calf is always a cause for celebration, but two healthy calves in six months is fantastic. The new arrival and mum are doing very well and I am sure our visitors will share in our good news.”