African Elephant Born

Calf was born to Rescued Herd at San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park

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San Diego, MARCH 12, 2006 – Sunday a 17-year-old African elephant, Litsemba (leet-SAMH-bah), gave birth at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park. The male calf was born at 9:14 p.m. Litsemba, which means "the timid one" in the SiSwati language, and her calf will be slowly introduced to the rest of the herd. Keepers and researchers are monitoring the pair around the clock to ensure the first-time mother properly cares for the newborn.

"The natural breeding, subsequent births and group rearing of these calves affirms our strategy of using positive operant conditioning and herd management allows the elephants to behave as naturally as possible," said Jeff Andrews, San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park animal care manager. "Through these successes we are demonstrating our commitments to African elephant conservation and creating a sustainable population, allowing people to learn about elephants first hand for generations to come."

This is the second calf sired by Mabhulane (mah-boo-LAH-nee), the Wild Animal Park's adult male. Mabu's first offspring, "Khosi" was born in September 2006. Progesterone tests indicate two more elephants, Umoya (oo-MOY-ah) and Lungile (loon-GEE-lee) are also pregnant and are due later this year.

The calf and dam are viewable from the Wild Animal Park's African elephant overlook point and through Elephant Cam at www.wildanimalpark.org.

Litsemba was one of seven African elephants rescued by the Park in August 2003. The bull and six cows were scheduled to be culled in Swaziland's national parks because of elephant overpopulation. A lack of space and long periods of drought created unsuitable habitat for a large elephant population in the small southern African country. Officials in Swaziland's Big Game Parks felt they had two options, kill a number of their elephants or export them to a zoo willing to care for the pachyderms.

Vus'musi (vuss-MOO-see), a male elephant, was the first calf born to the rescued Swazi herd in February 2004 to the female Ndlulamitsi (n-DOO-lah-mit-see). Vus'musi was fathered by a bull culled in Swaziland because the bull was involved in the death of endangered rhinos.

Elephant females give birth every four to six years. The average gestation period for African elephants is 649 days or about 21 months. A newborn calf is about three feet tall and averages between 250 to 300 pounds. The calf is weaned at approximately 1 to 2 years old.

An adult African elephant is much larger than its cousin the Asian elephant. A male African elephant weighs approximately 7 to 8 tons and can stand about 10.5 feet at the shoulders. A female can weigh approximately four tons and stand 8.2 feet at the shoulders.

The 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park (more than half of which has been set aside as protected native species habitat) is operated by the not-for-profit Zoological Society of San Diego. The Zoological Society, dedicated to the conservation of endangered species and their habitats, engages in conservation and research work around the globe. The Zoological Society also manages the 100-acre San Diego Zoo and the center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES). The important conservation and science work of these entities is supported in part by the Foundation for the Zoological Society of San Diego.