The Oregon Zoo’s newest baby elephant arrived over the weekend. At 4:29 p.m. Saturday, Rose-Tu gave birth to a calf that appeared to be a healthy girl, weighing in the vicinity of 200 pounds. The birth came after 20 months of pregnancy.
It’s the first live elephant calf born at the zoo in more than a decade — and Rose-Tu’s third. The experienced mother most recently gave birth to Lily in 2012, and in 2008, she had her first baby, Samudra.
“We couldn’t be happier with how everything is going so far,” said Steve Lefave, who oversees the zoo’s elephant program. “This was one of the smoothest births I’ve ever seen. Rose knew just what to do. She helped her baby up right away. The kid was standing on her own within 15 minutes and took her first steps soon after that.”
At around 200 pounds, the new baby is actually the smallest of Rose-Tu’s elephant calves (Lily weighed about 300 pounds at birth, and Samudra was 286 pounds), but it was still a healthy size, Lefave said.
Rose-Tu spent Monday morning showing off her brand new baby to a crowd of reporters inside Forest Hall, the zoo’s indoor elephant habitat.
She walked slowly around the corral, the calf trailing behind her and stopping briefly to nurse. Rose-Tu spent most of her stage time extending her trunk to knock showers of alfalfa from a bag hanging from the ceiling, then gathering it up on the ground for a quick snack.
The activity is good mental stimulation for elephants, Director of Animal Health Dr. Carlos Sanchez said, though the calf won’t start eating solids for about nine months.
After about 30 minutes, Oregon Zoo’s newest baby had enough of the attention and tucked herself in by her mother’s feet for a nap.
Forest Hall is currently closed to visitors, but once Rose-Tu and the new baby are more comfortable, Portlanders will hopefully be able to stop by and meet the calf.
Elephant keepers have submitted their picks for the baby’s name, and there are plans in place should a tie-breaker be needed (Since the baby was born in February, Sanchez’s pick — Valentina, a nod to the Feb. 14 holiday — is still in the cards.)
The calf arrived right in the middle of its expected birth window, which ran from mid-January to March 16. Zoo staff got its first hints the baby might be on the way Wednesday, when Rose-Tu’s hormones dropped, and she went into active labor Saturday afternoon.
For now, the team is on “Rose time,” Lefave said.
The third-time mom was protective of her new calf after it was born, so zoo staff didn’t want to break their bond, Sanchez said. Once elephant keepers think Rose-Tu and the baby will be comfortable separating for a quick neonatal exam, the veterinary team will jump in to confirm the calf’s sex and check its eyes, mouth and umbilical cord.
“They’re very wiggly at that age,” Sanchez said, “but we are in and out in less than two minutes.”
Once the calf is comfortable being handled, he said — likely sometime between 6 months and 1 year old — staff will take its first blood sample to test for endotheliotropic herpesvirus, the viral infection that caused Lily’s death at 6 years old in 2018.
From now on, testing will be done at the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Oregon State University in Corvallis, allowing the Oregon Zoo to test elephants more often and receive same-day results. After its first birthday, the newest calf will be tested once or twice a week for at least 10 years, Sanchez said.
Lots of milestones lie ahead for the zoo’s newest resident, Lefave said, though next on the list is hopefully introducing the calf to its “aunties” — female elephants Sung-Shurin (or Shine) and Chendra. The pair was around when Rose-Tu gave birth, but zoo staff are looking forward to a closer meeting.
But for now, Portland can rejoice knowing the smallest member of the herd is here and healthy.
“This is an effort that reflects not only the hard work of the zoo but all the community around us,” Sanchez said. “Portlanders are very proud of this elephant.”
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