For millions of years, female elephants have managed to give birth successfully without being poked, prodded and worried over by humans.
But at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, keepers and veterinarians are posting a close and anxious watch over Felix, who is poised to deliver the first elephant ever born at the 132- year-old zoo.
Their 7,490-pound patient, whom they describe as "kinda petite," is due any day now. So her vets and handlers have stepped up their maternity preparations.
The pregnant pachyderm is submitting good-naturedly to blood tests - drawn daily from her ear as vets watch for the hormonal changes that signal an impending delivery. Ultrasound tests are repeated every other day to keep watch over Felix's already frisky calf and the dilation of the mother's cervix.
In the 10,000-square-foot elephant barn - spruced up with wood chips, a $1 million renovation and "calf-proofing" - keepers are on a sleepless, 24-hour watch over their princess. They're looking for any change in behavior that might signal that her time is nigh.
On average, five African elephants such as Felix, as well as three Asian elephants, are born in the United States each year, according to Mike Keele, deputy director of the Oregon Zoo in Portland and chairman of the Elephant Taxon Advisory Group at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
About a third of the Asian infants die in their first year of life - about the same as in the wild. Keele said he thinks infant mortality among African elephants in captivity is less than that.
But with experienced moms such as Felix, Keele said, "the risk goes way down. She should take care of the calf without any problems."
Such births, and the excitement they generate, increase the public's interest in efforts to help preserve elephants in the wild, he said. The fact that 10,000 people went to Baltimore's zoo for last weekend's opening day - many to see Felix, according to zoo officials - suggest that the impending birth is already having an impact.
On a smaller scale, elephant births are good for a zoo's revenues, and they're "really important to the mom and that herd," Keele said. The infant's presence helps strengthen the group's cohesion.
Felix seems unaffected by it all. She has been posing for photographers and zoo visitors, and ambling around the elephant pen in the late winter sunshine as if she had everything under control.
But no one at the Maryland Zoo wants to take chances.
