Elephant FAQs

We are excited to share that Nhi Linh bred with our bull, Spike, on April 29 and 30, 2024. She is due in February 2026, though her birth window extends from mid-January through early March.

Spike arrived at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) March 23, 2018, from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida. He is on loan from Zoo Miami, where he was born July 2, 1981. He is currently 44 years old.   

NZCBI welcomed Nhi Linh along with her mother Trong Nhi Nov. 7, 2022, as a gift from the Rotterdam Zoo in South Holland, Netherlands. Nhi Linh was born Aug. 10, 2013 at Rotterdam Zoo. She is 12 years old.  

Having a healthy, genetically diverse and self-sustaining population of Asian elephants in human care is critically important for this species’ future. Because Spike, Trong Nhi and Nhi Linh’s genes are not well-represented in zoos, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) program for Asian Elephants recommended we breed them. 

Last year our animal care teams observed Spike breeding with both Nhi Linh and Trong Nhi. Although staff are providing the highest level of prenatal care, just as with any animal pregnancy, there is a possibility that miscarriage, stillbirth or a complication could occur. Staff veterinarians later confirmed that Trong Nhi had conceived, but recent diagnostic tests indicated the calf is likely no longer viable. Nhi Linh’s pregnancy is on track, and staff are cautiously optimistic she will welcome her first calf in the coming months.

Spike is the Zoo’s largest elephant, standing just under 10 feet tall and weighing approximately 13,000 pounds. Only male Asian elephants grow large tusks, which makes Spike easy to tell apart from to the rest of the herd.  

Nhi Linh is the Zoo’s smallest female elephant. At 7.5 feet tall and approximately 6,700 pounds, she is about half Spike’s size. She sports small tusks, called tushes, which protrude a few inches from her lip line.

Spike is the biggest animal in the Zoo, and keepers say his confidence matches his size and stature. Although male Asian elephants can become dominant or aggressive during musth (the period when a bull elephant readies himself for breeding), Spike exudes a laid-back, “gentlemanly” attitude. When he doesn’t like something, he shows his displeasure briefly, then goes right back to being cool, calm and collected.   

Nhi Linh is feisty, rambunctious and brave when it comes to trying or exploring new things. She is inquisitive and shows a lot of interest in exploring her surroundings. She is not shy about letting keepers know when she likes something — or doesn’t like something. Nhi Linh has proven to be very resilient, especially when it comes to voluntarily participating in medical procedures, including blood draws.   

By looking at their chests and midsections! The biggest tell-tale that an elephant is pregnant is mammary development. Female elephants have two mammary glands on their chest near their forelegs. Elephant mothers carry calves in their midsection. In the last few months of pregnancy, visitors may be able to see the calf kick and roll from side to side.

Asian elephant pregnancies last about 18 to 22 months (659 days on average) — the longest gestation period of any animal.  

Newborn Asian elephants weigh between 150 and 350 pounds (68 to 158 kilograms). 

Fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants are left in the world, and populations are declining due to poaching, habitat loss and conflict with people. Every birth brings new hope for this endangered species.  

Our last calf, a male named Kandula, was born in 2001—nearly 25 years ago. Now, a new generation of zoogoers can experience the joy of seeing an elephant calf bond with herd-mates, get into adorable mischief, play with enrichment and explore their environment. Visitors can meet our animal ambassadors at the Elephant Trails exhibit for free. And they can watch them from anywhere in the world via the Elephant Cam. 

Most members of our elephant care team want to be surprised and learn the calf's sex once they are born. Once our team knows, we will share those details with the public.

Elephant Trails is a safe and secure space for our herd to roam. In anticipation of the calves testing the exhibit’s boundaries as they grow, our animal care and facilities teams made a few modifications. They backfilled eroded areas with rocks, dirt and logs and added another steel cable—closer to the ground—around the perimeter of the indoor and outdoor habitats.  

As Nhi Linh’s due date approaches, our team will drain some of the exhibit pools completely and others to a shallow depth where the calf can easily touch the bottom while standing.

The calf's debut will be dependent on several factors: health, social wellbeing and weather. 

Before the calf makes its public debut, it will spend some time off-exhibit bonding with its mom, herd members and keepers behind the scenes. This is critical to the calf's development, as this species is intelligent, sensitive and social.  

Keepers will pay close attention to the health and behavior of the mom and calf to determine the best time for herd introductions. Some members of the herd — including Trong Nhi and Bozie — may have face-to-face interactions shortly after the calf is born. Others — Spike, Swarna and Maharani — may first meet at a “howdy” — a fence where they can see, smell and vocalize at one another with a safety barrier between them.  

During howdy intros, we pay close attention to their body positioning and vocalizations. Gentle and nurturing behaviors indicate they are ready to share space. We look for an increase in affiliative behaviors, such as touching and sharing food, and a decrease in behaviors we consider aggressive, such as charging and trunk throwing. Their behavioral cues help our team determine everyone’s level of comfort before we dive into face-to-face introductions. 

In the wild, elephants live in close-knit family groups. Here at the Zoo, our multigenerational herd mirrors that social structure. Young elephants get their “herd smarts” about where to go, what to eat and what to avoid by observing and mimicking their mothers, aunties and grandmothers. Many of the behaviors elephants use to navigate the world aren’t innate; rather, they are learned by watching and interacting with these motherly figures.  

Based on the elephants’ behavioral cues, keepers will determine when the calves are ready to make their public debut. They aim to give the calf access to the indoor and outdoor habitats as soon as possible. However, because their due date is in winter, outdoor access will be largely weather-dependent.  

Once you’re inside the Zoo, there is no special ticket or pass necessary to see the elephants – just head to the Elephant Trails exhibit! 

As a reminder, visitors needs an entry pass to enter the Zoo. Entry passes are free and can be booked online.  

Information about the elephants is regularly posted on the Zoo’s website and social media channels. To be among the first to receive elephant news, sign up for the Zoo’s newsletter and follow the Zoo on Instagram, X and Facebook. And watch them from anywhere in the world via the Elephant Cam.  

Nhi Linh receives about 130 pounds of food a day! Just like humans, elephants can put on “baby weight.” To prevent them from packing on the pounds, our elephant and nutrition teams designed a healthy and balanced diet that also meets their nutritional needs. Weekly weigh-ins help our team ensure both moms remain in good health.    

Their menu includes 1.5 bales of orchard hay, 40 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies, 15 pounds of grain, 50 to 100 pounds of fresh browse (branches, leaves and bamboo), and vitamin D and E supplements. They also receive straw to nosh on. This dry, bland food isn’t as tasty as orchard hay, but it satisfies their natural urge to graze without adding extra calories.  

Elephants have four teeth—each about the size of a brick—with grooves that help them grind vegetation. 

Keepers teach the elephants behaviors that enable them to voluntarily participate in their own husbandry and medical care. This takes coordination among our staff and, of course, the elephants. To communicate, keepers use a combination of verbal and visual cues. The elephants interpret those cues to determine which behavior keepers are asking them to do.  

Keepers train the elephants using positive reinforcement, a type of operant conditioning where they pair desired behaviors with rewards in the form of attention and treats (their favorite foods). When keepers ask the elephants to do something, they can choose to voluntarily participate, knowing they will be rewarded. If they don’t want to participate, they don’t have to. These interactions help establish—and maintain—the important bond between an animal and a keeper. 

Each elephant has a unique personality and learns differently. When it comes to training, keepers treat each elephant as an individual and go at their pace.  

The animal care team closely monitors each elephant’s behavior, weight and body condition. All of our elephants know how to voluntarily “shift” (move around their habitats), stand still on a scale and present parts of their body for evaluation. They also participate in diagnostic procedures, including blood draws, radiographs and ultrasounds.

Yes! Ultrasounds allow animal keepers and veterinarians to monitor fetal development in real time. What they see at any given time largely depends on the calf’s position in utero. Generally, our team tracks the fetus’s heartbeat, growth, skeletal development and movements.  

Female elephants have two mammary glands on their chest near their forelegs. Keepers are working with Nhi Linh to desensitize her to the sensation of nursing by manipulating their mammary glands. This acclimation training is especially important, since Nhi Linh has never nursed a calf. Keepers also trained Nhi Linh to extend her front legs forward, a position that can provide the calf with better nursing access. In the event the calf is short and needs some assistance latching, keepers have placed stands under mom that could help give her baby a boost.

To help Nhi Linh maintain optimal body condition, keepers take her through strength and flexibility training exercises as part of her daily care routine.  

Our animal care team practices protected contact with the Zoo’s adult elephants. Physical barriers, such as fencing or steel mesh, are in place to ensure safe distances are maintained between elephants and staff. 

While elephants are known to be gentle giants, they have a hierarchical social structure and often display assertive behaviors, such as charging or trunk swinging. Those behaviors are OK for fellow elephants but could injure a human, due to an elephant’s sheer size and strength. It is important for animals to express their natural instincts, but staff safety is also key.

The best way to tell when an elephant is ready to give birth is by monitoring her blood samples for changes in estrogen and progesterone levels. Currently, Nhi Linh's hormones are elevated. When they begin to fall back to normal “baseline” levels, our team will know birth is imminent.

Nhi Linh will give birth in the Elephant Barn — an off-exhibit area adjacent to the Elephant Community Center. The barn includes a large indoor habitat with “suites” that can accommodate multiple elephants. Four suites have rubber flooring and one has a 4-foot-deep sand floor.  

Nhi Linh has her own birthing suite, and Bozie and Trong Nhi will be in a separate suite nearby to share in the experience. Although Spike, Swarna and Maharani will not be present in the barn, they will likely be able to hear and communicate with their herdmates through rumbles and other vocalizations.  

Our elephant care team looks for behaviors that indicate an elephant is in labor, such as water-breaking. Typically, elephants become restless and move about more than usual. Initially, they may lean against walls, rock from side-to-side, flap their ears or place their trunk in their mouth. As labor progresses, they may lay down and get up frequently, swat their tail, and urinate or defecate, among other behaviors.  

Once a pregnant elephant’s hormones hit baseline, labor can occur as soon as a couple of hours or as long as several days.  

Right before birth, the fetus creates a bulge in the mother’s abdomen. Our elephant care team will be able to see the calf travel up the birth canal toward the mother’s tail moments before delivery.  

Right after birth, Zoo veterinarians will perform a comprehensive neonatal exam. The calf should appear healthy, alert and bright-eyed. Vets will take the calf’s measurements (weight, height, length and girth), listen to its heart and lungs, examine its eyes and ears, test the range of motion in its limbs and obtain a blood sample.

Following the exam, the elephant team will give the mother and calf time to bond and closely observe their interactions. Ideally, the pair would calmly and gently investigate each other, and the mother would show interest in nurturing her calf.

Calves typically stand up about 30 minutes after birth. The elephant team may assist the calf using straps or ropes to help the calf from falling as it learns to walk.  

Most calves attempt to nurse within 5-7 hours of delivery, but it can take up to 24 hours. If mom is having difficulty nursing or is not interested in nursing, staff may allow the other elephants into the enclosure to offer reassurance and assistance. 

Asian elephants are native to 13 countries throughout South Asia and Southeast Asia. Fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants are left in the world due to habitat loss, conflict with humans and poaching. Every birth brings new hope for this endangered species.   

For more than 50 years, scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute have been at the forefront of studying Asian elephants at the Zoo and in their native habitats. Together, they are creating a comprehensive view of Asian elephant biology, behavior, reproduction, health, genetics, migration, elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHV) and the challenges surrounding human–elephant conflict. Because of its existing relations with U.S. and foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, and major academic and zoological institutions in elephant range countries, the Zoo is uniquely positioned to spearhead efforts that improve life for Asian elephants in zoos and save them in the wild. 

NZCBI’s multigenerational herd has been shaped by decades of behavioral research. The Elephant Trails habitat is a living research lab. Here at the Zoo, Smithsonian scientists study our Asian elephant “ambassadors” to better understand the species’ behavior, reproduction, disease, genetics and movement.  

• Studies on bonding, play, and maternal care inform best practices for zoos worldwide.  

• Innovative enrichment and nutrition strategies developed at NZCBI support both physical and mental health.  

• NZCBI developed hormone-tracking systems now standard in U.S. elephant facilities—tools that help predict ovulation, pregnancy, and health changes.  

• Studies on milk composition, gut microbiomes, and hormones are unlocking new insights into calf nutrition, immunity, and reproductive success.  

Our team shares this knowledge with facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), ensuring elephants receive the best possible care.

And, in Southeast Asia, Smithsonian experts work with partners to develop strategies and solutions that help humans and elephants peacefully co-exist, from rewilding former work elephants to safeguarding lives and crops on lands that have been converted from forests to farms.  

• Our scientists train local teams in genetic analysis, health monitoring and welfare practices—expanding the network of people protecting elephants.  

• In Thailand and Laos, we helped establish the first elephant DNA labs, now regional hubs for conservation research and training.  

• GPS tracking collars, designed and tested at the Zoo, are now used on wild elephants to safely study movement patterns and reduce human-elephant conflict.  

• Working with partners in Laos, we are helping reintroduce former work elephants into safe, wild environments.  

NZCBI’s National Elephant Herpesvirus Laboratory provides critical testing and data that guide global response efforts. The lab analyzes thousands of samples each year from elephants across North America, helping detect and treat infections early. NZCBI scientists train partners across the U.S. and Asia in EEHV testing, monitoring, and early intervention to save young elephants. Through international collaboration, we’re advancing diagnostics, treatments, and global capacity to combat this disease. Smithsonian research contributed to the first EEHV vaccine, turning tragedy into progress for elephant conservation. 

The elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) is a naturally occurring virus that both African and Asian elephants carry. NZCBI's team first described the virus in detail—and how deadly it can be—in 1995, through the unfortunate death of our young Asian elephant calf, Kumari. Once EEHV enters an elephant’s bloodstream, it can replicate rapidly, become symptomatic and may lead to EEHV hemorrhagic disease—as it did for Kumari. All four subtypes of EEHV (EEHV-1A, EEHV-1B, EEHV-4 and EEHV-5) are present and active within our herd. 

NZCBI is committed to learning everything we can about this virus, including why some elephants succumb to it while others survive. We established the National Elephant Herpesvirus Laboratory, which serves as a resource of information, testing and research for the elephant community worldwide. And, our staff have helped establish labs at zoos and institutions around the world. 

No. A common misconception about EEHV is that it only affects elephants in human care. That is not the case—it affects wild populations, too. 

Zoos have elephant experts, veterinarians and pathologists on staff who can monitor an animal’s health and investigate death in a timely manner. In range countries, it is much more challenging to study how EEHV affects wild populations. Scientists may not come across a body until days or weeks after its death—far too late to determine whether EEHV was the culprit. Current studies are investigating how EEHV impacts wild populations—a crucial next step for the species’ survival.   

Once inside a host, EEHV can go into a latent phase —that is, the virus is dormant until conditions are right for development. Scientists haven’t found what causes the virus to go from latent to active and symptomatic. Research indicates that stress may be a factor.  

For elephants, the wild is not an easy place to survive. Stresses include encountering predators and humans, getting separated from herd members, the birth or death of family members, the movement of individuals in or out of a herd, stormy weather and the list goes on. Zoo elephants may experience some similar events, particularly with the changing of herd members and moving from place to place.   

Most adult elephants are able to fight the virus when it comes out of latency, because they have antibodies to the virus. They may experience only mild symptoms or no sign of disease at all.  

For calves, the story is different. Research indicates that if a calf is exposed to EEHV while it is nursing and has maternal antibodies, they have a better chance of producing their own antibodies and surviving without experiencing serious disease. Young elephants up to 20 years of age that become exposed to EEHV after they have weaned (and lost those maternal antibodies) appear to be the most susceptible to succumbing to the disease.   

Our animal care team uses three methods to regularly monitor the members of our elephant herd: behavior watches, trunk washes and blood draws.  

Keepers work one-on-one with our elephants every day and know the normal “baseline” for each individual's behavior and health. This includes their sleeping, eating, playing, exploring and socializing patterns. When they see a marked change in these behaviors, staff track them closely to determine if it is a one-off or if there’s another reason for this change in demeanor. In addition to changes in mood or behavior, they look for physical signs of illness: edema (swelling), lameness, loss of appetite or a change in their desire to interact with animal care staff.

Elephants will intermittently shed EEHV in their trunk secretions over the course of their life. Our elephant care team does weekly “trunk washes” to detect viral shed. During a trunk wash, keepers ask an elephant to present their trunk. Using a syringe, keepers inject saline into a nostril, then ask the elephant to raise their trunk for 30 seconds. On keepers' cue, the elephants blow the solution into a sterile bag, and they place it in a test tube and send it to the Zoo’s EEHV lab, where it is analyzed for any viral shedding.  

During a blood draw, keepers ask an elephant to stand still and present their ear. This gives veterinarians full access to the blood vessels in the back of their ear. They swab the site with an alcohol wipe and use a butterfly needle—the same one you would see at your doctor’s office—to obtain the blood. It takes anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes to collect the sample size they need. The animal care team rewards the elephants with food and lots of praise for their voluntary participation.  

EEHV can quickly become symptomatic. There is a very short window of time to successfully begin treatment. That’s why it’s important that the animal care team monitors our elephants’ health so closely. If they see subtle changes or detect viral sheds, they can start treatment right away.  

One of the most effective treatments is a blood transfusion from other elephants. We want to have a blood supply ready to go if Nhi Linh or the calves become ill. Luckily, two of our elephants, Spike and Swarna, both voluntarily participate in large-volume blood collection as donors. 

There are three big ways members of the public can support the Zoo's elephant conservation program: donate, become a Zoo member and shop online or in person during Zoo visits.