WASHINGTON — Bozie, the National Zoo’s new Asian elephant, will make her public debut Thursday, the zoo said Wednesday.
The 7,500-pound elephant, who was shipped by truck last month from the zoo in Baton Rouge, La., has been in quarantine since then to make sure she was free of disease.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo now has four Asian elephants: three females — Bozie, 37; Ambika, 65; and Shanthi, 38; and Kandula, 11, a male.
It also has a roomy state-of-the-art elephant complex with an indoor recreation center, a 5,700-square-foot barn and a quarter-mile walkway through woods. The zoo says it can accommodate up to a dozen elephants, and it has been working to build its herd.