There was a baby elephant born at the zoo in Sydney and just recently there was a competition to name him. The names of the parents were Thai influenced and they suggested that the baby name should be too. So cute. His name is now Luk Chai.

Sky News story

I wonder, if most animals in zoos are named on the same kind of basis, just how many Shelia and Bruce koalas and kangaroos there are in zoos around the world?

That's lovely. The first time I went to Thailand, we stayed overnight in Bangkok. I went for a walk around the busy hotel area and turned a corner to be face to face with a baby elephant and his human friend, out for a stroll. It was a terrific moment for me as I had never seen a wild animal outside the zoo.

oh wow - that sounds just fantastic!
The thing I love about baby elephants is that they look like minature adult elephants and not like a young animal ... if you know what I mean.

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I had never seen a wild animal outside the zoo.

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Ren, I have to ask. Do you mean by this that you had never seen an exotic, "zoo-type" animal, or that you had never seen any wild animal?

Yes I suppose I meant an exotic 'zoo-type" animal like a lion, elephant etc. I guess I had seen squirrels and deer , things in the English countryside.

Thanks. It's all part of me trying to visualise England - I thought surely there would be deer.

There's an albino porcupine that lives in the woods behind our house. We see him (her?) sometimes when he comes out on the hill to eat some of the plants there.

I saw another porcupine (just a regular coloured one) waddling down the middle of Magnolia Crescent on my way to school this morning in broad daylight. I think porcupines are nocturnal aren't they? I've only seen one during the day asleep in a tree before.

Well, I've been patiently waiting to see an armadillo in the wild -- like taking a stroll across a street. Yes, that can happen here. Thought I'd found one once, but as I got closer (driving the car) I discovered it was only "another" road kill.

Not sure about naming animals at the zoos around here, but I think zoos tend to either give animals "cute" names, or else something that sort of goes along with what they are -- like Ling Ling, a panda.

In the wild I have seen a group of turkeys, white tail deer (not for hunting!), of course squirrels, chipmunks, and the usual backyard animals. Once saw some sort of falcon eating a bird on my back lawn. Luckily (and happily for me) I've not seen snakes! EEuuuww! (And you can keep earthworms, too.)

The new baby elephant does look really appealing,as Jill said the fact that it`s such a perfect miniature makes it so nice to look at,for me anyway.

Some zoos just cannot get it right though.......

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Gaza zoo's zebra really a painted donkey

* From: The Daily Telegraph
* July 28, 2009 2:18PM

Exotic ... zebras have never been seen in Gaza, so a donkey with stripes has become a hit with zoo-going kids Source: AP

A POVERTY-stricken zoo in Gaza is in such a dire state that it has resorted to painting stripes on a donkey so it could have its own "zebra".

The Marah zoo, not far from the Bureij refugee camp and littered with broken-down animal toys, was showing off the bizarre creature claiming it was one of the exotic African beasts.

"It's really a painted donkey," admitted the zoo's director Mahmud Berghat when asked about the creature.

After explaining that the zoo used hair dye on the unsuspecting donkey, Mr Berghat said: "We cut its hair short and then painted the stripes."

Despite the confused four-legged beast hardly being able to fool zoologists, the "zebra" has been a hit with the thousands of Gaza-bound school children who have never seen such an exotic animal.

"But don't tell anyone," Mr Berghat said. "The children love him."

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From here.

haha! I think I want to see the painted donkey more than a real zebra.

I'm volunteering in Thailand in the summer of 2012 to help with elephants. I really can't wait. Seeing animals in the wild really does make a difference - I went to Tanzania in 2008 on safari, and it was amazing to say the least. My mum asked a few times "Why don't you just go to the zoo?" :P