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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City is hoping a new addition later this year will boost attendance.
An elephant calf is expected to be born late this summer. The zoo hopes the birth could increase visits, which numbered nearly one million in 2008.
Christie the elephant is pregnant. Her calf would be the first African elephant born at Hogle Zoo.
But zoo Director Craig Dinsmore says there are a lot of potential problems with elephant births in zoos. Elephant stillbirths are common and infant mortality is higher with captive elephants that most other species. Dinsmore says everything that can go wrong with a human pregnancy can go wrong with an elephant pregnancy but that there's little that can be controlled.
An exhibit called Elephant Encounter opened at the zoo in 2005.
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
