Fort Worth Zoo Welcomes Baby Elephant Named Lady Bird

A baby elephant in Texas shares a famous Texas name!

Texans Vote Choose a Name for a Baby Elephant

The newest baby at the Fort Worth Zoo officially has a name. According to the zoo, 18 thousand people cast a vote to choose the name of a female Asian elephant calf. The three choices were Yellow Rose, Black-eyed Susan, and Lady Bird...each having a Texas-flower theme.

And the Winner is....

When all the votes were counted, Lady Bird emerged as the winner. The name is in honor of the former first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, who was known for her love of nature and wildflowers.

Lady Bird has a Famous Mother

Baby Lady Bird was born on August 18th and now weighs 320 pounds. Bluebonnet, Lady Bird’s 26-year-old mother, was the first elephant calf ever born at the zoo. Romeo is Lady Bird’s father, and Brazos is her almost 4-year-old brother.

The Lifespan of Elephants

Although they are very large mammals, elephants have a very long lifespan...rivaling that of humans. Today (October 8), 67 year old Asian elephant Cora passed away at the Topeka, Kansas Zoo. According to the Salina Post,  Cora was one of the oldest Asian elephants in human care in the United States. In her younger days, Cora starred as “Charlotte” in the 1980 hit film Smokey and the Bandit II.

The Oldest Elephant on Record

This past July, an elephant thought to be the oldest elephant in the world passed away at the age of 100. Vatsala, often referred to as Dadi, or grandmother, spent the last thirty years of her life at the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh state. According to the Independent, Vatsala's  early years were spent transporting produce. She arrived at the Tiger reserve in 1993. She never had offspring, but the staff said she was a natural matriarch to the younger elephants. The Guinness Book of World Records would not award her the oldest elephant title due to missing documentation from her early years.