The Smithsonian National Zoo announces first elephant birth in 25 years

WASHINGTON (NBC, KYMA) - The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. is expecting a new addition soon as one of the zoo's elephants, Nhi Linh, is expected to give birth this winter.

This is significant because it is the first time in 25 years that an elephant has been pregnant at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and they are very confident that this baby will be born healthy sometime this winter, but they're closely monitoring the baby's progress.

They will give her an ultrasound, much like the ultrasound that human moms get on a regular basis, but it is quite the process to get her to the point where she's comfortable going through the ultrasound.

It involves the same gel and same equipment that human moms get as well. The big difference is, though, is while it is easy to take the full picture of a human fetus, this fetus could be 175 pounds, meaning they only get small slices of the full picture, but it still gives them a very good idea about this baby's growth and its health.

The baby to be expected to be born sometime this winter.

It will mark a huge accomplishment for the conservation effort of Asian elephants across the world as they are still endangered. They estimate somewhere in the range of 50,000 elephants living across the world.

To learn more about this, click here.