Zoo's big new star stays close to mum

SYDNEY - He's walking, drinking and is more than 30 times heavier than the average human newborn, but the first Australian-born Asian elephant calf is every bit the baby.

The yet-to-be-named calf, which weighs 96kg, made another public appearance at Sydney's Taronga Zoo this week with his mother Thong Dee and aunt Tang Mo.

The small pachyderm shuffled between his mother's legs, at times hiding behind her, away from the glare of about 20 news cameras.

He curiously touched the bigger elephants' meal of pineapple leaves with his trunk before Tang Mo yanked them from his grip.

Taronga Zoo chief executive Guy Cooper says there's some similarities in the first days of human and elephant babies.

The calf, born last Saturday, is expected to rely on his mother for 12 litres of milk a day for the next nine months.

The zoo's elephant enclosure is soon going to expand, with two more babies expected over the next two years.

- AAP