After Early Nutritional Challenges, Asian Elephant Calf Linh Mai is Making Good Gains

We celebrate Earth Day every year here at Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, but this year’s event marks an extra-special occasion—one more than 25 years in the making. 

Tomorrow, April 22, our charming and charismatic Asian elephant calf Linh Mai will make her public debut at the Elephant Trails exhibit and on the Elephant Cam. As the first calf born here since 2001, Linh Mai has captured the world’s attention. Now that she’s venturing outdoors with “auntie” Swarna by her side, Linh Mai has a whole new world of sights, sounds and smells to explore. We are thrilled to share these delightful first moments with all the fans who have followed her story. 

Thinking back to Linh Mai’s first few weeks of life, our calf has come such a long way. At first, she did not digest her formula well and experienced loose stools. Diarrhea is an indicator that something is 'off’ in the gut, whether physiologically, microbially or nutritionally. Fluid loss was a concern, as proper hydration is needed for good digestion. In addition to formula modifications and fecal microbiota transplant (courtesy of elephant calf Ollie and our colleagues at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio), our animal care team also decided to add fluids like Unflavored Pedialyte into her daily feeding regimen to help her maintain proper hydration levels. 

Combined, these measures seemed to do wonders for Linh Mai.  Today our animal care team is happy to see improvement in her overall health, energy and weight gain. As of April 20, she is over 498 pounds and just over 40 inches tall at the shoulder—and growing! 

Our elephant care team continues to provide round-the-clock care to Linh Mai, including bottle feedings every two hours. You may be lucky enough to see this on exhibit during your visit! She drinks her bottle enthusiastically—in about 3 minutes—and typically lays down for a brief snooze before she’s off exploring again.  

On behalf of Linh Mai, we would like to thank Abbott for their generous donation of Unflavored Pedialyte to the Zoo’s Elephant Trails team. Our expert animal care, nutrition and veterinary teams determined that Unflavored Pedialyte, designed for human use, would be beneficial to Linh Mai’s care.