The Saint Louis Zoo announced that Asian elephant Rani (pronounced “Ronnie”) is having a baby, and is due to give birth in the summer of 2020. Rani, 23, is also the mother of Jade, who is 12.
The zoo’s bull elephant, 26-year-old Raja, is the father. He was born in 1992, and was the first Asian elephant ever born at the zoo. This calf will be his fifth offspring.
An elephant pregnancy lasts about 22 months, and a newborn usually weighs between 250 and 350 pounds. Rani receives regular prenatal health checkups by the zoo’s elephant care team. At this point, the sex of the calf is unknown.
Rani is part of a nine-member, three-generation elephant family that includes Ellie (her mother), Maliha, Jade (her daughter), Priya, Donna, Sri, Pearl and Raja at the zoo’s River’s Edge and Elephant Woods habitats. Rani and Ellie arrived at the Saint Louis Zoo in 2001 from the Jacksonville Zoo, where Rani was born in 1996.
For updates on Rani’s pregnancy and other information on the zoo’s elephant family, visit stlzoo.org/elephants.