ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Any positive thoughts that you've been sharing with the Saint Louis Zoo and its newest resident have apparently been working. The Zoo let people know on Monday that its new elephant calf "has shown signs of getting stronger" after Elephant Care Team discovered the baby boy has some "developmental impairments that have limited his ability to feed since birth."
The works not over, but it's a good message as the "Elephant Care Team of keepers and veterinarians continue to work around the clock" to help the son of Rani and Raja.
Here's the full update the Zoo shared on Monday:
On Thursday evening, the Zoo posted a message, saying the calf – yet to be named – was "weak at times" and asked supporters to keep him and the family "in your thoughts."
The Zoo’s bull elephant, 27-year-old Raja, is the father. He was the first Asian elephant ever born at the Zoo in 1992, and this calf is his fifth offspring.
Rani is part of a 10-member, three-generation elephant family that includes her new calf, Ellie (mother), Maliha, Jade (daughter), Priya, Donna, Sri, Pearl and Raja at the Zoo’s River’s Edge and Elephant Woods habitats. Rani and Ellie arrived at the Saint Louis Zoo in 2001 from the Jacksonville Zoo, where Rani was born in 1996.
Mother and baby are bonding off public view and a debut date has not been set.
For updates on Rani, her calf and other information on the Zoo’s elephant family, visit stlzoo.org/elephants.