Oregon Public Broadcasting

After 17,000 votes from the public, the Oregon Zoo’s new baby elephant will be named: Samudra. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

The zoo whittled the choice of names down to five. ‘Samudra’ won the popular vote with 35 percent.

Deputy Zoo Director, Mike Keele, says the Indian name means ‘Lord of the Ocean.’

Mike Keele: “Samudra was proposed as a name because the little guy really likes his bath in the morning. He’s actually had access to the pool in the back exhibit and he’s really taken to water, so we felt that Lord of the Ocean would be an appropriate name for an elephant has come into our herd and has so quickly gotten into the bath routine.”

Samudra is now three weeks old and weighs 333 pounds. He’s averaging a healthy weight gain of about two pounds a day.

He’s gradually being introduced to all of the female elephants in the herd.

Samudra can be expected to live to be 45 years old – 65 if he’s healthy.