Lily, who turned one on November 30, has starred in her very own movie created by staff at the Oregon Zoo in America, where she lives.
Staff at the zoo – who also gave Lily her very own birthday cake - made the video to document the baby animal’s first year of development.
Lily weighed 300 pounds at birth, but now comes in at a whopping 1,130.
Unfortunately, the number of Asian elephants in the world, like Lily and her family, is dwindling. And like their African cousins, Asian elephants face threats from poaching.
Oregon Zoo say that ‘fewer than 40,000 elephants remain in fragmented populations from India to Borneo.’
According to the World Wide Fund For Nature, poaching Asian elephants for ivory and meat remains a serious problem, but the population mostly suffers from habitat loss and fragmentation.
Luckily Oregon zoo is a leader in understanding how to best safeguard Asian elephants. They work with the International Elephant Foundation and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to conserve elephant habitats.
In addition, the zoo works with the National Zoo to research the causes of EEHV, a deadly viral disease affecting both wild elephants and those in captivity.