On Tuesday, Tokyo’s Ueno Zoological Gardens unveiled its first baby elephant to the world and asked the public to help name it, reported news agency Reuters. The Ueno Zoological Gardens is more than a century old.
The male calf is born to parent elephants Authi and Artid who were gifted to Japan by Thailand in 2002. The gifts were presented to celebrate the birth of Princess Aiko, who is the only daughter of Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako.
How Can Public Help Name The Baby Elephant?
The zoo has set up a system where the public can vote online. They can choose from the names suggested by the Royal Thai Embassy in Tokyo. The choices on the online forum include Arun (meaning 'dawn' in Thai), Atsadong ('sunset' in Thai) and Tawan ('sun' in Thai). The name with the most votes will be announced on 15 December.
People are allowed to view the unnamed baby elephant and the mother for only two hours everyday. Unfortunately, the father of the baby elephant, Artid, died in August after suffering from tuberculosis.
Here's how social media users reacted:
(With inputs from Reuters)
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