Pets & Animals

Zoo Officials Name Newest Baby Elephant

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium announced the name of its second baby elephant today.

The baby, born on July 25th, has been named Zuri.

"We saw our visitors coming in to the barn and they would say, 'Oh, she's beautiful,' or 'Oh, she's pretty,' or 'Oh, she's gorgeous,' and she is actually a little bit of a pink coloration," said the zoo's Dr. Barbara Baker, "and so the staff went into books and looked up what was Swahili or African for 'pretty' and 'beautiful' and came up with the name Zuri."

Baker says the zoo has a very unique situation with Zuri and her older half-sister, born earlier this month, Angelina.

"To have two baby elephants basically two weeks apart and doing very, very well, two little females, is just phenomenal," said Baker. "It is not seen anywhere else in the world. It's quite unique to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh should be very proud."

Zoo officials also say they are already seeing the differences in their personalities.

"We saw Angelina being very feisty from the get go. She was very outgoing, very charismatic, wanted to run into you, wanted to climb up on Willy, our elephant manager. So she is very outgoing," added Baker. "Zuri took a little bit longer time to do that. She's very feisty, but one-on-one she's staying very close to mom. She's not venturing out and running across the yard and jumping into the pool. So she's not quite as outgoing as Angelina, although she is still very feisty as well.

Meanwhile, Baker also says that moms, Savanna and Moja, are also both doing very well and the babies are alone beginning to discover one another.

"The baby elephants really haven't found each other yet. They just started interacting yesterday and playing with each other and we're now seeing interaction between the two," she said. "When they find each other, they are going to make incredible playmates and they are going to make marvelous experiences for our visitors."

Baker says visitors can see the elephants in their exhibit now at the zoo.

"They're out on exhibit as the main herd usually, typically from about 9:30 to 11:00 in the morning, and then they go back out as a herd on the main exhibit outside at about 4 o'clock and they are out from about 4 to 5:30," said Baker. "We don't want them to sunburn out in the heat of the day. Then we bring them in though and they are visible also once they come inside."

For more:  Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

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