SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield is welcoming a new 8-year-old Asian elephant.
The elephant, named Hugo, arrived Friday from the Endangered Ark Foundation, a private nonprofit and circus elephant retirement ranch in Hugo, Oklahoma.
The Springfield News-Leader reports Hugo will be in quarantine for at least a month. He will then be introduced to Patience, a female elephant, and the zoo hopes they will someday be on exhibit together.
Asian elephants are critically endangered. The zoo said in a news release that Hugo came to the zoo to increase the genetic diversity of the U.S. elephant population.
Also this month, the zoo also welcomed a male baby giraffe and a black and white colobus monkey. A ring-tailed lemur was born April 10.
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