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May 26 2009

A Baby Elephant for Belgium

Posted by: Lydia in Leuven, Belgium, Shiny things, tags: , , , ,

After 22 months of anticipation, twenty-eight year-old Asian elephant Khaing Phyo Phyo has finally given birth to her fourth child at Antwerp Zoo. Phyo Phyo was born wild in Myanmar, then was captured to live in the Netherlands and the UK before moving to Antwerp. Over the past eleven years she has three previous children – Timber, Sitang, and May Tagu. The father, Alexander, has been responsible for nine other healthy offspring, however this baby is the first product of Phyo Phyo and Alexander together.

An elephant birth is a first for Belgium. The anticipation was so great that many Belgians signed up for SMS alerts of the birth. The progress of the gestation, from ultrasounds to a live video of the birth, was projected onto giant screens. She was born at 8:45 AM on Sunday May 17, weighing 80 kilograms, and was on her feet within 20 minutes. Her four-year-old sister May Tagu was originally jealous, but with the help of aunt Phyo Yu Yu Yin, she now seems to have welcomed the little one into the family.

A nation-wide competition was held to name the baby, and the result has just been revealed: Kai-Mook (“pearl”). To celebrate this event, the post office will send 4.8 million postcards to the households of Belgium – a world record number of birth announcements. All of Belgium is united in celebration of this delightful event.

Photos from bebe-elephant.be

Related posts:

  1. Saints and Elephants
  2. Eurovision 2010: a trip to Norway?
  3. Belgium – could I be a Brüsselerin?
  4. How to make friends in Belgium
  5. A Post-Doc in Belgium

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 8:26 pm and is filed under Leuven, Belgium, Shiny things.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

6 Responses to “A Baby Elephant for Belgium”
  1. Adrian says: May 26th, 2009 at 8:45 pm

    That is a cute baby elephant. Maybe we should get one instead of a kitten/puppy?

  2. Manictastic says: May 26th, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    Elephants are awesome. Adrian is right, you two should get a baby elephant :D Just don’t watch the Simpsons episode of when Bart gets an elephant. See, still a good idea right :d

  3. Judy says: May 26th, 2009 at 10:44 pm

    I heard on the radio that the father was very proud – did he give a press conference from his zoo ?

  4. Lydia says: May 26th, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    A Stampy of my very own? Sounds perfect.

    I would love to see a press conference with both parents beaming down over the podium. Sadly, I think Alexander is back at Amersfoort Zoo in the Netherlands, and may never meet his radiant daughter.

  5. Laura says: May 27th, 2009 at 3:48 am

    I just love the fact that the dad is called Alexander. That’s the sort of name I would give to an elephant. I would also like a bébé elephant.

  6. Lydia says: June 16th, 2009 at 1:48 am

    Alexander is an excellent name for an elephant.