April is done. The calf has been named. Now another zoo has a baby watch on its hands.
The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium announced Monday that one of its elephants is pregnant.
Seeni, a 21-year-old Botswana elephant at the International Conservation Center in Somerset County, is expected to give birth mid-summer, the zoo said. She bred with the zoo’s bull elephant, Jackson.
“Seeni is still building a strong relationship with us,” Willie Theison, the zoo's elephant manager, said. “She knows who we are and she responds well to us, but most importantly she needs to be comfortable with us around her, especially when she gives birth. We have been spending more time with her and working with her so she has that level of comfort.”
The pregnancy is Seeni’s second. She delivered her first calf at 14 years old at the Okavango Delta in Botswana.
An elephant's gestation is up to 22 months. The zoo estimates that Seeni might give birth in July.
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