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The Oregon Zoo has determined that the newest member of its Asian elephant herd is indeed a girl, and given her a name: Tula-Tu.
Oregon Zoo director Heidi Rahn made the announcement live on NBC’s Today show this morning.
Tula means “balance” in Sanskrit, Rahn said.
“That’s really important for the herd,” Rahn said on Today. “She’s already brought that harmony and that stability to her family here at the Oregon Zoo. Not to mention that she was up and standing within minutes of being born, so balance is really fitting for her.”
Tula can also mean “weight” and elephant keepers were recently able to get a number on their newborn calf: 210 pounds. Tula-Tu was born Feb. 1.
The -Tu suffix of her name links her back to her mother, Rose-Tu, and her grandmother, Me-Tu. The elephant keepers will call her Tula for short. The frontrunner boy name was Gonzo.
Rahn also gave an update on how Tula-Tu is doing in her first two weeks of life. She is bonding with Rose-Tu and nursing well, meeting all of her milestones and getting introduced to the rest of the herd.
Postpartum mom Rose-Tu has been getting some TLC from zoo staff as well.
“Rose has been ‘eating for two’ for quite some time now, and when her baby was born, we increased her diet to support lactation,” said Steve Lefave, who oversees the zoo’s elephant area, in a statement. “We’ve added some alfalfa to the menu recently, and she has been loving it.”
Asian elephants are highly endangered and threatened by habitat loss, disease in their home range countries and conflict with humans, according to the zoo. It’s estimated that just 40,000 to 50,000 of them remain in fragmented populations from India to Borneo. The Oregon Zoo’s elephant care program goes back more than 60 years.