WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - A big baby boom is coming to the Sedgwick County Zoo in 2025. Wednesday morning the zoo announced another one of its elephants is pregnant, making 5 in total.

Every year about 650,000 people visit the zoo. The zoo's president Scott Newland says the zoo's most popular year was when it opened the elephant exhibit and more than 700,000 people came so he's expecting this to bring a lot of visitors.

"I'm super excited that they're gonna grow the herd here and we'll have little elephants to watch grow as we come throughout the years," said zoo visitor Rebecca Murry.

Simunye, Talia, Xolani, Arusi, and Zuberi, are the soon to be mothers of five new baby elephants at the Sedgwick County Zoo. 

"We're gonna have a really busy and an amazing 2025," said Lauren Ripple who is the zoo's elephant manager.

The zoo has been wanting to grow the herd since 2016 but it was a rocky road.

"Just like humans can have problems with fertility we weren't getting any pregnancies," explained Ripple.

That's why the zoo is over the moon for these elephantastic new arrivals!

"Getting that first confirmation that we were going to have a pregnancy here at the zoo was probably one of the biggest highlights of my career," said Scott Newland, the zoo's president.

His excitement has only continued to climb as each pregnancy was confirmed.

The first calf is expected to be born in early Spring of 2025 and the rest will follow shortly after. The gestation period for an elephant is 18-22 months.

"It's both exciting and honestly in my role a little intimidating," said Newland.

Zoo staff has been working non stop to make sure both the mamas and babies are healthy. It also has been planning ahead.

"We will need to expand our indoor facilities a little bit to accommodate all of these animals," he said.

This is not only an exciting time but also history in the making. These will be the first African elephants born in Kansas.