It’s a girl!
And this one weighed in at 300 pounds.
In this picture from the Oregon Zoo, we see the young daughter of Asian Elephant Rose-Tu on her feet next to her mom. With the help of a rope harness, Zoo officials say, she was able to stand within 5 short minutes of being born. Read more about her on this Oregon Zoo Page.
And the Oregon Zoo’s new baby elephant was born on a record breaking day in Portland weather!
South winds suddenly picked up on Friday November 30, 2012 and temperatures all over the metro area, including at the Oregon Zoo, jumped 5-10 degrees in a single hour from 10-11am. And Portland’s official high hit 61 degrees which is a new record. The balmy high smashed the old record of 58 from 1941.
Do elephants care about the weather? Do they ‘talk about it’ or something of that sort? Might her parents always say–on a typically cold November day in Portland–that they remember the ‘warm day’ when she was born? I have no idea.
But I know I will always remember the day our oldest son came home from the hospital. It was a record breaking September day when Portland had 1.63″ of rain. But maybe that is just a human thing. Or a weather geek thing.
Even if the elephants don’t know about the record warm weather–I will always remember that this new baby elephant was born on a record breaking Portland weather day!
UPDATE: List of possible names for Oregon Zoo’s new baby elephant:
- Jaidee (pronounced JYE-DEE; Thai for “good-heartedâ€)
- Sirikit (pronounced SEE-REE-KEET; name for Thai royalty, literal meaning is “gloriousâ€)
- Rakhi (pronounced ROCK-HEE; Sanskrit for “love/bond between siblingsâ€)
- Lily (following the flower theme of mom’s name,
Rose-Tu, or Rose for short) - Siddhi (pronouncded SID-HEE; Sanskrit for
“perfectionâ€; wife of Ganesha)
- Vote on her name right here!
New Photos From The Oregon Zoo–isn’t she just adorable?
Oregon Zoo photo, just after birth!
Oregon Zoo photo, snuggled in next to mom.
Oregon Zoo photo of bath time!
Oregon Zoo photo that really puts the size difference into perspective. 300 pounds? Yes. But that definitely is tiny in the elephant world!
Name the new baby “Rosey Tea Party” and call her “Rosey T”
Congratulations to the Oregon Zoo, and of course the proud parents of the big baby! I’m just wondering about one thing; When was it born? Was it close to the same time as the temperature change?
Roland–it was born at 2:17am. So quite awhile before the temperature spike. Would’ve been great had the times been closer!