Adorable little elephant's name reflects her appeal

The public has spoken. It's baby "Zuri."

After weeks of voting on a name for Hogle Zoo's new female baby elephant, visitors have picked the clear winner.

Zuri is an African word meaning "adorable" or "beautiful."

Nearly 10,000 votes were received at Hogle Zoo and at Sizzler and Red Robin restaurants. Nearly half of those votes were for the name Zuri.

"The community has been extremely supportive of the baby elephant from Christie's pregnancy through birth," said Hogle Zoo community relations coordinator Holly Braithwaite. "We wanted people to voice their opinion on a name, and the final decision was clearly the overwhelming winner."

The other four names in the running were: Abeni, Apara, Khari and Aisha.

Christie, a 7,900-pound African elephant, delivered Zuri, her first baby, on Aug. 10 at the zoo after a 22-month gestation.

At Zuri's public debut last Friday, she weighed in at 306 pounds. That's 55 pounds more than when she was born.

She is described by the zoo as active and running around her yard. Zuri is quite energetic, but her mom Christie is handling that well and both are very happy and healthy, according to Braithwaite.

Hogle Zoo's gate is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Can't get enough of Zuri? Go to: babyzuriblog.com where Hogle Zoo will provide regular updates.