A newborn elephant at Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo had a bit of a stumble as she tried to follow her mother around the enclosure, capturing a heartwarming moment.
The female calf, still unnamed, is learning to walk and appeared unsteady on her feet while navigating alongside her much larger mother. The little one’s tumble occurred just hours after her birth.
The calf, born at the zoo in Austria, was spotted moving around her mother, trying to gain confidence with each step.
In a video, she can be seen walking close to her mother, occasionally wobbling as she gets used to her legs.
Her mother, Numbi, gave birth just hours before the footage was taken. Zoo Director Dagmar Schratter shared, “It’s a girl, and everything seems to be going well. This is Numbi’s third calf.”
Zoo staff closely monitored the birth throughout Friday night and into Saturday morning. The calf, born early on Saturday, measured about three feet tall and weighed 198 pounds (90 kg).
Schratter explained, “The newborn is staying close to her mother, trying to keep up, but for now, they’re not ready for public viewing as they adjust to the new environment.”
Numbi, who is 20 years old, arrived at Vienna’s zoo in 2009 from South Africa’s Kruger National Park, along with her first calf, Kibo.
Her second calf, Tulubu, was born in 2010. Schratter described Numbi as an experienced, calm, and attentive mother, adding that the baby is feeding well.
The newborn elephant was part of a breeding program, conceived with sperm from a wild elephant in South Africa’s Phinda Reserve.
Schönbrunn Zoo, the world’s oldest zoo, is located on the grounds of the renowned Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria.
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