SINGAPORE – After five months, Night Safari’s baby elephant finally has a name.
She’s called Neha, which means “loving” in Sanskrit and “symbolises the love her elephant and human family showers on her”, Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) said in a Facebook post today (Oct 6).
WRS also gave an update on Neha’s development in a statement; the Asian elephant has started experimenting on solid foods by trying to munch on bananas, but her staple diet is still her mum’s milk.
Neha has been steadily gaining weight at a rate of 1-2kg daily – which is normal for an elephant – and is now 352kg, more than double her weight at birth.
After her daily morning walks, the “exceedingly playful and carefree” elephant spends her afternoons scaling the mud mountain in her exhibit.
“Her infectious joy almost always prompts the other adult females to join in, leaving them all dolled up in an orange sheen in time to welcome guests to Night Safari when dusk falls,” WRS said.
Wildlife Reserves Singapore
Neha also loves to play with her favourite elephant aunty, Tun.
The new star of Night Safari is the offspring of Chawang and Sri Nandong, and is adopted by Japan travel agency, JTB. She is the youngest among Night Safari’s six Asian elephants, four of which are females.
Asian elephants are listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, more so than their African counterparts.
There are an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants left in the wild today.
huizhen@sph.com.sg
