Newest arrival at Indianapolis Zoo comes in at 262 pounds

Indianapolis Zoo welcomes new elephant calf on Labor Day

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Zahara the African elephant gave birth Monday to a 262-pound baby boy at the Indianapolis Zoo.

Staff worked through the Labor Day weekend to help the first-time mother birth the calf, but the 17-year-old was only in labor for 20 minutes before the baby arrived at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

“The birth made history as the first elephant in the world (African or Asian) to be born through artificial insemination to a mother who was also born through the same procedure,” the zoo said in a news release.

The baby was standing within 10 minutes of his birth. Mom and babe were bonding quickly, zoo staff say. The boy weighed a bit more that most newborns but appeared to be healthy.

The unnamed calf was the seventh to be born at the zoo and marked the facility’s entry into a third generation of elephants.