Asheboro, NC — The North Carolina Zoo on Thursday announced an African bull elephant, Louie, is joining the zoo’s herd.
“Louie arrived May 25, and he is settling in well to his new habitat,” the zoo said in a news release.
Louie is an 18-year-old male African elephant, born April 30, 2003, at the Toledo Zoo in Ohio. On June 22, 2017, he went to Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Nebraska as part of their breeding program. Louie’s move to the North Carolina Zoo is a recommendation from the African Elephant Species Survival Plan (SSP) through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
The gradual process of introducing Louie to the zoo’s herd is already underway, the zoo said in the release. The keepers are hopeful that Louie and one of the Zoo’s females will produce offspring.