Taronga Western Plains Zoo newest addition has been named Kanlaya, which means beautiful lady in Thai.
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Five-thousand different names were entered into the competition to name the one-month-old female Asian elephant calf.
Zoo keepers from Taronga Western Plains Zoo and Perth Zoo, home to Kanlaya’s father Putras Mas, selected the winning name.
Elephant supervisor Glenn Sullivan said this was a record-amount of entries received for elephant names at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
He said Kanlay was growing up nicely. Her most recent weigh-in saw her reach approximately 120 kilograms.
“She’s hitting all her milestones, she’s putting on weight and she’s consistently nursing,” he said.
“The rest of the herd really enjoy having her around because shes new, Sabai in particular because this is his first young herd mate … He loves being very close and near to her … He is very cheeky with her.
Like most elephants she likes water.
“While we bath Porntip, she will often enjoy a little warm hose down as well, and even more recently a little scrub,” he said.
