I’d done some sketches for this week’s Illustration Friday topic but all those ideas went out the window when we went to the zoo over the weekend.

(Click to enlarge)

This is Felix. She is 22 months pregnant and could give birth any day now. African Elephants are pregnant for so long, that the “due date” is more like a “due month” and the earliest they were expecting the birth was over a week ago. The keepers were taking her out for a walk around their enclosure and making her jog around a bit for exercise. Elephants can lumber along pretty swiftly when they want to, but poor Felix was doing the elephant equivalent of waddling. It might have been my imagination, but it seemed like you could see the shape of the baby when she was moving.

I think if she hasn’t given birth in a few more weeks, they’ll start thinking about feeding her spicy foods. Baby elephants can weigh 200-300 pounds when they’re born, and I’m sure Felix is at least as anxious as the zookeepers to welcome her little one into the world already.