African Elephant Born At Sosto Zoo
August 29, 2022
An African elephant was born today at Sosto Zoo in Hungary.
“This is the third offspring of the mother animal, 21-year-old Kwanza, and her mate, 29-year-old Jack, and after a bull born in 2015 and an elephant cow born in 2018, another bull calf was born.
The specialists of the park expected the baby elephant to arrive at the beginning of September, but Kwanza, the mother elephant, "gifted" us almost exactly to the day on the twenty-fifth birthday of our Zoo.
Kwanza's 22-month pregnancy was continuously examined by our veterinarians and the development of the calf was monitored with ultrasound examinations and blood sampling.
During the stock check on Monday morning, our caretakers noticed that the African elephant stock, which had previously numbered 4 individuals, had increased.
The little one was born without external help and is probably a bull calf, but as soon as possible our specialists will separate it from its mother for a short time to perform a general veterinary examination.
Kwanza and her mate Jack were brought to us from a Swedish and an English zoo as part of the European Species Rescue Program, and it is interesting that after the conception of the second calf, Jack avoided us to fulfill his duty as a breeding bull, but he did not deal with the female elephants at the Basel Zoo, so they were brought back to Nyíregyháza.
Not long after his return, the current offspring was conceived, with which the African elephant team already has 5 members.”
photo: MTI / Attila Balázs