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Meet Moma the baby elephant

March 21, 2017

The elephant herd at Cologne Zoo has a new addition. Young bull Moma already has parents, but now he's been adopted by two German broadcasters eager to highlight the plight of pachyderms in the wild.

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Deutschland Kölner Elefantenbaby heißt „Moma“
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg

"Little" Moma was born at Cologne Zoo early on Monday, being the second elephant birth this year in the city.

Already weighing in at 100 kilograms (220 lbs), the baby elephant still has a little of growing to do, and is expected to need up to 10 liters (2 gallons) of milk per day.

Deutschland Kölner Elefantenbaby heißt „Moma“
Moma has already been welcomed into the fold at the elephant enclosureImage: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg

His mother is 10-year-old Marlar, who was also born at the zoo. Nine of the 15 Asian elephants living at Cologne Zoo were born there. Moma's dad, Sang Raja, was born in Singapore but now lives at the German zoo.

Moma was quickly adopted by German public broadcasters WDR and ARD, with the young bull being named after ARD's morning magazine program. 

WDR even set up a live stream for elephant lovers to see Moma and pals in their enclosure.

The two broadcasters hope the adoption might help highlight the threat posed to Asian elephants by hunting and habitat loss.

It seems Moma can be sure of having a few playmates. As well as the other baby born this year, two of the zoo's other cow elephants are pregnant.

Read: Elephant poaching is losing Africa millions of tourist dollars

ARD-Morgenmagazin übernimmt Patenschaft für Kölner Elefantenbaby „Moma“
Image: WDR/Kölner Zoo/Werner Scheurer

Read: Wildlife 'is the brand of Africa,' says leading conservationist

rc/kms (DPA, ARD, WDR)