Samudra

On Monday, the girls and I went to the Oregon Zoo to see the new baby elephant. "Elephant" is one of Ellie's favorite words lately, and babies of all kinds are a big draw for both kids. When we got there, we saw the remains of the line barricades that had been used for the crowds waiting to see the petite pachyderm over the weekend, and I felt not so badly about corralling my kids into line for only about 20 minutes. I actually have never seen a line with such universally well-behaved kids. It was kind of strange. Luckily, the two female elephants who are not the mom were out front in the outdoor area so we could watch them while we patiently and quietly waited to see... a small gray lump sleeping like a log in a pile of sawdust.

At one point, his little elephant ear did swipe reflexively at a bothersome fly, so I'm confident that he was awake. Then, we voted for our favorite elephant name. Maggie chose Duc, I chose Bao, but the majority of Portland elephant fans went with Samudra. So, he is Sam. Sam he is.

Here's a video from someone who was luckier than we were:



Here's another - the Zoo put this one out. It shows the baby and his mom with one of the other female elephants: