The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, announced today that one of its Asian elephants, Nhi Linh (pronounced NEE-lin), is pregnant and could give birth to the first baby calf born at the facility in nearly a quarter century. If the pregnancy continues on track, the calf should be born between mid-January and early March.
According to a press release, the zoo’s 44-year-old male elephant, Spike, mated with 12-year-old Nhi Linh in April 2024. Asian elephants gestate for an average of 18 to 22 months.
Spike, who is on loan from a zoo in Miami, came to the National Zoo in 2018 from Busch Gardens in Florida. Nhi Linh and her mother, Trong Nhi (trong-NEE), arrived at the National Zoo in 2022 as a gift from the Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands. The two Dutch elephants were brought to the zoo to mate with Spike. A matchmaker of sorts sparked the idea: The Association of Zoos and Aquariums has a Species Survival Plan, and its “studbook” keeper analyzes such factors as lineage and temperament to recommend breeding pairs that will diversify and strengthen the gene pool. The match worked: Nhi Linh, who is “feisty and rambunctious,” according to the press release, is “smitten” with Spike, who has a “laid-back, ‘gentlemanly’ attitude.”
According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants left in the world—half the population that existed just 60 or so years ago. They are considered endangered.
The National Zoo has one male Asian elephant and five females; along with Spike, Nhi Linh, and 22-year-old Trong Nhi, the herd includes Bozie (51), Swarna (51), and Maharani (35). The zoo also announced that Spike and Trong Nhi had also bred back in April 2024, and Trong Nhi had also conceived. But recent hormone testing and ultrasound indicate that the fetus may no longer be viable.
The birth of an Asian elephant at the Naional Zoo is a big deal in more ways than one: Calves weigh about 200 pounds. (Which seems like a lot until you consider that dad Spike weighs 13,000 pounds.) The mother and other females in a herd typically help a newborn to its feet within minutes of delivery.
The first Asian elephant born at the National Zoo was Kumari, a female whose arrival in December 1993 created such excitement that, as we recalled in a 2011 article, grandstands were built and a queue created to control the crowds. Sadly, Kumari died in 1995, at just 16 months old, due to elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus. A male calf, Kandula, was born at the zoo in November 2001 and now resides at the Oklahoma City Zoo.
You can follow updates on the zoo’s website, e-newsletter, Facebook, X, and Instagram. There are daily 3 PM keeper talks at the Elephant House, too, and everything you might want to know about Asian elephants here.
We predict that the zoo’s elephant cam will soon rival its panda cam in popularity. Meanwhile, its cheetah cam is currently trained on other adorable zoo babies, a litter of four cubs born in October at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal.
Sherri Dalphonse joined Washingtonian in 1986 as an editorial intern, and worked her way to the top of the masthead when she was named editor-in-chief in 2022. She oversees the magazine’s editorial staff, and guides the magazine’s stories and direction. She lives in DC.
