Elephant calf born in German zoo takes first steps on World Elephant Day

Just in time to mark World Elephant Day, the first elephant to be born in Erfurt Zoo has taken her first steps in public. Proud African elephant mum Chupa showed off her baby after a pregnancy lasting 666 days.

Visitors to Erfurt Zoo in central Germany are now able to see the newest edition to the elephant family for the first time, following the birth of an elephant calf earlier this month.

The African elephant was born to mum Chupa on August 5 after a pregnancy lasting 666 days.

The calf — who has not yet been named — made her press debut on Tuesday with the public able to visit her for the first time from Wednesday.

Her first outing coincided with World Elephant Day, dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world's elephants.

The calf weighed 114 kilograms and measured 93 centimeters when first born.

She will spend her days at the 11,000 square meter (118,403 square feet) enclosure —  the largest for elephants in Germany.

Employees at the zoo made the elephant house "child safe" ahead of the birth, including securing access to the 1.8-meter-deep bathing basin, reported German public broadcaster MDR.

In the coming days she will be introduced to her other enclosure mates, including elephant bull Kibo, as well as elephant cows Safari and Csami."Csami is completely crazy about the baby," reported the local newspaper Thüringer Allgemeine, citing zoo vet Tina Risch.

World Elephant Day

World Elephant Day was founded in 2012 by by Canadian filmmakers Patricia Sims and Michael Clark and Sivaporn Dardarananda, head of Thailand's Elephant Reintroduction Foundation.

Its organizers hope to raise awareness to problems affecting elephants worldwide.Elephants were once common throughout Africa and Asia, but their number declined significantly during the 20th century, largely due to the illegal ivory trade as well as shrinking territory, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

There are currently between 40,000 - 50,000 Asian elephants, a drop of 50% in the last 30 years. They are restricted to just 15% of their original habitat compared to 1979.

Although the African elephant habitat range has declined by over 50% as well in that time, some populations have begun expanding again to an estimated 415,000 elephants.