Houston Zoo expecting new baby Asian elephant in late 2024

An Asian elephant at the Houston Zoo is expected to give birth in late 2024.

Elephant Shanti is currently pregnant, but ultrasound scans have not been able to determine the sex, the zoo announced in a statement on Thursday. The father is a 58-year-old Asian elephant named Thailand.

This will be Shanti’s fifth child after Baylor and Duncan who live in a bachelor herd at the Denver Zoo, and Joy and Nelson who live with her in the elephant habitat.

“The zoo’s dedicated animal care team monitors Shanti to ensure that mother and calf remain healthy during the remaining months of pregnancy through weekly blood tests. By tracking hormone levels of Shanti, the team is optimistic about the progress of the pregnancy,” zoo officials said. said in a statement.

The new baby is expected to be born in the cow barn at the McNair Asian Elephant Habitat, under the supervision of zookeepers and the veterinary team.

People who visit the Houston Zoo help save wild animals, with a portion of each admission going toward conservation, protecting different species in their natural habitat, according to Wren Baker of the Houston Zoo.

The Houston Zoo provided funding for elephant conservationist Nurzhafarina “Farina” Othman and her team in Asia to install tracking collars on wild elephants. The collars are used to track wild elephants, collecting valuable movement data that is used to inform the future protection of elephant families as they move through forests, according to the press release.