A male African elephant born at the former San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park three months ago will be called Emanti, which means "water" in the language of Swaziland, zoo officials announced today.
The calf was born May 12 at the newly renamed San Diego Zoo Safari Park located in southeast Escondido. More than 1,000 name suggestions were submitted via the zoo's website. Of those, three finalists were chosen for a public vote.
More than 2,500 votes were cast over four days earlier this month. In addition to Emanti, the finalist names were:
- Usutu, which is a large river in Swaziland; and
- Mnakabo, which means "their brother."
Emanti is one of eight African elephant babies born at the Wild Animal Park in the past six years to a herd rescued from Swaziland. Eight adult elephants were brought to the Wild Animal Park in 2003 from the African country, where they were to be culled due to overpopulation.
The San Diego Zoo runs a live webcam of the elephants here.
