Born in 1998 in Thailand, the female elephant arrived at the Tokyo zoo in 2002 along with a male elephant named Artid, 19, as a gift from Thailand in celebration of the birth of Princess Aiko, the only child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, the year before.
The zoo announced in early September that Authi was pregnant. The female elephant showed signs of pregnancy after zookeepers made her stay together with Artid in October last year, and the fetus was observed using an ultrasound in July, according to the zoo.
It is difficult to breed Asian elephants in captivity and only 11 successful cases have been reported in Japan.