Newborn Elephant at Whipsnade Zoo

19 April 2010, 12:23 | Updated: 19 April 2010, 15:18

A baby elephant born at Whipsnade Zoo last week is settling into his new environment well.

Heart got to meet the baby elephant at the zoo today, to see how he is doing one week since he was born.

Guillaume Rebis is one of the keepers at the elephant section of the zoo. He’s been telling Heart:

"The baby was born last Sunday and 12:20. His mother is Karishma she is 12 years old. His weight was 124 kilos. He is outside with his mum and all the rest of the herd and is grazing with this lovely weather."

"The baby started to nurse three hours after the birth, which is very quick. He is quite confident, he is doing very well, mum is looking after him properly and nursing him everyday, I would say every hour. And he is doing very well."

When asked about how the birth went Guillaume told Heart:

"Karishma is a first time mum so we didn't really know how it would be. But the birth has been fine. The first contraction was in the afternoon, on Sunday afternoon. The birth itself took just a few minutes, and she stayed with the calf without any problems."

The Asian elephant calf is yet to be named but staff at the zoo have nicknamed him 'Crooked' because of a bend in his tail.

The plan is for 'Crooked' to stay at the zoo for the next 5 or 6 years with his mum and half brother.