Portlanders received a very special gift for whichever of the winter holidays they may observe. On November 30 at 2:17am, Rose-Tu, an 18-year-old Asian elephant in the Oregon Zoo’s illustrious herd, gave birth to her second calf, a 300-pound baby girl.

Oregon Zoo director Kim Smith described the newborn as "very vigorous," saying "as soon as she hit the ground — before she was even out of the amniotic sac — she was wiggling."

The new elephant was on her feet within 15 minutes of birth. By the time she was one hour old, she had already kicked a veterinarian. Smith said the baby elephant is a vocal one as well. In fact, the first time she was heard by zoo staff, the sound was so deep and loud that everyone thought it was Shine, another female elephant at the zoo.

"She’s definitely got a great set of pipes, and it looks like she’s going to be a real pistol," Smith said.

"The outpouring of support for the zoo and its newest resident has been incredible," said Bob Lee, the zoo’s elephant curator. "We’re glad that so many people in our community are excited to meet the new arrival."

The littlest elephant and her mother are now receiving visitors. Viewing hours are 10:00am to 2:00pm, though keepers caution that hours are subject to change and will be posted online as quickly as possible.

In an effort to accommodate everyone who would like to see Lily, 30 people at a time are allowed in the indoor elephant viewing gallery for five minutes each. Visitors who would like to watch for a longer period of time are able to get in line again.

"Rose-Tu has been bonding well with the baby, allowing her to nurse regularly, sleep, play, and generally act like an elephant calf," Lee said. "We’re looking forward to watching the little one grow up and take her place in the herd."

Mike Keele, director of elephant habitats at the zoo, contrasted this birth with Rose-Tu’s first, in which the beleaguered elephant mother, who had never even witnessed a birth, would not let Samudra come close to her for the first four days of his life.

This birth was "much better than last time," said Keele. "Rose had learned, and so had we."

Weights of newborn elephants range from 160 to 315 pounds, Keele pointed out, noting that the father of the "big girl," Tusko, is "a big boy." As for older brother Samudra — who weighed 286 pounds when he was born — Keele says he is "part of a family. If Samudra gets boisterous, we expect the females to put him in his place. Golden Boy is going to learn some manners."

RoxAnne Simonson and Steven Daley work at Crossroads, a store at the zoo known for its elephant ears. They were at the zoo when Samudra was born more than four years ago — an early gift for Steven, whose birthday is the day after Samudra’s. Both are excited about the new calf. "It’ll be interesting to see how they interact," said Simonson of the siblings. Daley is "looking forward to more and more elephants."

The Oregon Zoo is renowned for its success in breeding Asian elephants, which are considered highly endangered. Beginning with Packy half a century ago, and counting the newest arrival, 28 elephants have been born at the zoo. With perhaps as few as 40,000 Asian elephants in the wild, those are 28 very important animals. The zoo elephants live as elephants do in the wild, in a matriarchal herd, and that herd will have four times as much space to live in once Elephant Lands, scheduled for construction starting in 2013, is complete.

Lily’s name was chosen by nearly 60 percent of the community in an online vote among five names supplied by elephant keepers. The other four under consideration were Jaidee (Thai for "good-hearted"), Rakhi (Sanskrit for "love/bond between siblings"), Siddhi (Sanskrit for "perfection"; wife of Ganesha), and Sirikit (name for Thai royalty, literal meaning is "glorious").

"When I see Samudra touching trunks with his baby sister, it brings home to me why we’re doing all this," Smith said. "They’re the third generation of elephants born here at the zoo, and they’re the ones who will grow up in the big new habitat we’re building. In their daily life, they’ll be able to choose their own activities and experiences, the way elephants do in the wild. When we talk about our vision of multigenerational family herds, Samudra and his new sister are the reason."

Welcome to Portland, Lily, welcome to the world.

To learn more about baby Lily and the new Elephant Lands space, visit <www.oregonzoo.org>.