Melbourne Zoo Shows Off Its Newest Star!

Little Baby cools off with her mother.

And now after all the chaos and confusion over the Australian immigration changes, we thought you’d appreciate something a little lighter for the weekend!

Meet Baby, the latest addition to Melbourne Zoo. The tiny baby Asian elephant, weighing a not so tiny 137 kilograms, was born on January 16 but has only just made her first public appearance. And then mum and ‘aunty’ were right by her side as she tottered out to the meet the public.

Baby is making the headlines as she is the first female calf to be born in captivity in Australia and the first through artificial insemination, so she’s already become the zoo’s star attraction!

Baby is still being fed by her mother Dokkoon and probably won’t go onto solids until she’s around three months old. Keepers decided to keep her out of the limelight before now so that Dokkoon could bond with her baby and keepers were assured that Baby was feeding well.

Baby has been slowly introduced to other members of the family, including her ‘aunty’, mum’s best friend Mek Kapah who was apparently quite bewildered by this bouncy little elephant. It was the first experience Mek Kapah had of a baby elephant and keepers said she seemed to take it all in her stride. The two other female elephants Kulab and Num-Oi were watching over Dokkoon during the labour and birth, so they have already made their introductions. Kulab is due her own calf in August/September so having this little one around is good practice for her!

Melbourne Zoo Director Kevin Tanner thanked his zoo staff for their success in breeding Dokkoon: “We are justifiably proud of the work we are doing at the Melbourne Zoo as part of the Regional Conservation Breeding Program which is helping protect the severely endangered Asian elephant.”

She will keep the name Baby until keepers have a good idea of what her personality is so they can choose a name to suit. Members of the public will have their chance to vote on the name they think is best – keep an eye on the Melbourne Zoo website for details of when potential names will be released and to follow the progress of Baby.

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