Linh Mai, the female Asian elephant calf born at Smithsonian’s National Zoo in February, is on track to make her public debut next week.
Since Linh Mai’s Feb. 2 birth to father Spike, 44, and mother Nhi Linh, 12, zookeepers at the District of Columbia zoo have handled her nutrition, including her feeding.
This is because Nhi Linh had never been around a calf prior to giving birth and kicked her feet, swung her trunk and engaged in other forms of elephant aggression instead of nursing Linh Mai, according to the Smithsonian magazine.
Linh Mai “has such a grip on drinking her bottles now that she actually collapses the bottle to get as much milk as she can. We have to constantly break the seal,” the zoo’s elephant manager Robbie Clark told Washingtonian Wednesday.
As of this week, Linh Mai weighs 462 pounds, and is being fed every two hours or so by zookeepers.
Mr. Clark told Smithsonian Wednesday that “considering the circumstances, the ability to have a role in her development this closely is … something that we’re all cherishing.”
Another older female elephant in the zoo’s herd, Swarna, 52, has taken a sort of surrogate “auntie” role in Linh Mai’s nascent life.
Swarna is teaching Linh Mai when to follow zookeepers to new areas and how to socialize and communicate with other elephants, Mr. Clark explained in a release Friday.
Linh Mai has also learned things from her human caretakers. The calf recognizes her name when it is said and is learning to move towards a buoy when instructed, Mr. Clark said.
The calf has had some exposure to going outside, but her Earth Day debut will mark her first full exposure to the zoo’s elephant habitat.
“She’ll have the opportunity to start exploring all of outside, which will probably blow her mind—lots of new sights, sounds, smells. It’ll be really cool for guests to see a lot of her firsts at that point as well,” Mr. Clark told Smithsonian.
In addition to officially appearing before the zoo’s guests next Wednesday, the zoo’s elephant webcams will also go back online.
Linh Mai started making her first appearances for paying members of the zoo Wednesday, and will continue the limited appearances through Sunday.
