An Unconventional Pregnancy

An elephant at the Indianapolis Zoo is drawing worldwide attention these days. Her name is Kubwah. She's the first African elephant to become pregnant by artificial insemination.

News About Animals

The 22-year-old elephant is now nine weeks into her pregnancy and zoo officials say they're trying to make it as natural as possible. Curator Debbie Olson:

"Her routine will be exactly the same. Her management exactly the same. Her food intake exactly the same. We don't want to do anything different."

The artificial insemination took place Memorial Day weekend, when sperm from a male African elephant in Kansas City was rushed to the Indianapolis Zoo.

Only 23 African elephants have been born in captivity in the United States since the late 1800's. (In the wild where things happen in the more convention way, only about 30% of pregnancy attempts succeed.)

Zoo officials say it's still too soon to tell whether the pregnancy will succeed. For one thing, Kubwah isn't due for another 20 months.

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