SINGAPORE – Night Safari’s most giant baby of the year has been named.
Neha, which means love in Hindi, has been chosen as the name of the park’s five-month-old Asian elephant, Wildlife Conservation Singapore said on Thursday.
Neha, born May 12, is the youngest of six Asian elephants – two males and four females – that call Night Safari home.
The baby elephant, who enjoys mud baths in her exhibit, recently experimented with solid foods like bananas.
She has steadily gained a few kilograms a day – which is typical for an elephant – and now weighs 352kg, more than double her birth weight.
Her human caretakers describe her as “an incredibly playful and carefree elephant.”
The Asian elephants are threatened with extinction, and there are currently only about 40,000 to 50,000 of them left in the wild.
Threats include habitat loss and human-elephant conflicts. For example, the native homes of Asian elephants are often exploited and cleared for urban development and agriculture.
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