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St. Louis’ first elephant family is pregnant again.

As the Post Dispatch reported:

The St. Louis Zoo is expecting a 300-pound bundle of joy next summer. Asian elephant Rani is almost five months into her 22-month pregnancy. Raja, the first elephant ever born at the St. Louis Zoo, is the father.

Rani is eating her regular diet of grain and hay and has stepped up her exercise routine, said Martha Fischer, the zoo’s mammal curator. She will gain some 500 pounds during her pregnancy.

Zoo officials hope that his birth goes a little better than Rain’s last baby Jade three years ago.   After initially nursing Jade, Rain rejected her.  The rumor around the zoo was always that Jade looked a little different and thus probably wasn’t Raja’s child.  A quick trip to the Maury show confirmed, that Raja was not the father…though one look could tell the child (left) looked a little different than dad.

Despite many a man’s claim that St. Louis has its fair share of girl elephants walking around, Raja, citing lacking of options, went back to Rain.

Good luck you two!

via STLToday