St. Louis Zoo Reveals Name of Baby Elephant
ST. LOUIS - What's in a name? A lot, considering the 128,821 votes that streamed in to the Saint Louis Zoo for its Name the Baby Elephant poll. On Tuesday afternoon zookeepers revealed the winning name for the Zoo's newest Asian elephant in the center elephant yard of River's Edge. Kenzi's half sister, Maliha, and her grandmother, Ellie, were present for the announcement.
The Zoo's elephant care staff selected four favorite female names - June, Zoe, Mya and Kenzi - and invited the public to vote for their favorite in a naming poll that ran from Tuesday, June 28 through Monday, July 4.
Kenzi won with 69,406 (53.88%) votes cast online, ballots at Zoo Welcome Desks and through postcards sent directly to the Zoo. Runner up June received 40,683 votes (31.58%), Zoe received 12,249 votes (9.51%) and Mya received 6,438 votes (5%). Write-ins received .03% of the vote.
Rani, the Zoo's 15-year-old Asian elephant, gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Friday, June 24, at 1:13 p.m. At four days old, the baby weighed 297 pounds and stood 39 inches tall. This is Rani's second baby and the third for Raja, the baby's father. Raja was the first elephant ever born at the Saint Louis Zoo.
Rani and baby Kenzi are not yet viewable by the public.