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 Baby elephant, rejected by her mother, forms new bond at National Zoo
04/18/26 11:46 AM
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Baby elephant, rejected by her mother, forms new bond at National Zoo
Portrait of Michelle Del Rey Michelle Del Rey
USA TODAY
April 17, 2026, 5:26 p.m. ET
An older female elephant at the Smithsonian National Zoo is raising the herd's newest addition — a 2-month-old calf — after the baby was rejected by her mother.
The National Zoo confirmed the situation in an email to USA TODAY.
Linh Mai, or “spirit blossom” in Vietnamese, was born on Feb. 2 to her mother, Nhi Linh. She's the zoo's first calf in nearly 25 years and is set to make her public debut on Wednesday, April 22.
However, the mother and her baby have struggled to bond.
According to a blog post on Feb. 12 written by Tony Barthel, the zoo’s director of animal care, zoo staff separated the pair after Nhi Linh began acting aggressively toward the calf.
The elephant had never experienced a birth, Barthel wrote, and had never interacted with a calf before….
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/04/17/linh-mai-elephant-mother-rejection/89664896007/?tbref=hp
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