Houston Zoo Delivers Two New Additions to the World

Last week a 34-year-old Asian elephant named Shanti concluded her 21-month pregnancy and 19-hours of labor with a 314-pound bundle of joy: a baby girl. In announcing the birth the Houston Zoo said the baby elephant, named Kirby, is “a trunk-load to be thankful for.”

That’s a long gestation period – one of the longest of any land mammal – and Kirby began her life seemingly trying to make up for lost time. She was on her feet within six minutes, and walking and nursing within a half hour.

Kirby’s birth got a fair bit of attention in the press, possibly because she is so photogenic. The elephant stumbled into existence with an adorable goggle-eyed expression suggesting her astonishment at the world she’d entered.

There was another birth at the zoo the previous week, a male jaguar as yet unnamed. This new guy and his mom, Vida, got far less attention than Kirby, in part because these cats (the largest in the Western Hemisphere) are more reclusive, even in captivity. The zoo’s veterinary team monitored the situation by camera for the first few days, then gave him a comprehensive check-up. He clocks in at a healthy 2.5 pounds.

Moms and babies of both species will spend time behind the scenes bonding before they make their public debuts. The Houston Zoo maintains a robust menagerie of inhouse creatures, but it also supports these and other species in the wild. A portion of each zoo admission and membership goes to conservation projects, such as one protecting the Bornean elephant population or Projecto Ariranhas, a project in Brazil to protect jaguar habitat.

The zoo posted this charming video of Kirby’s first steps.

Photo credit: Houston Zoo