29th April 2024

The second elephant born at BIOPARC Valencia will be called Malik

The park wanted to share with society the choice of the name of the “little elephant” and 53% preferred it to be Malik, which refers to “King” in the Arabic language.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) sounded an alarm to the international community in 2021 with the decision to increase the degree of threat of extinction of the african elephant on its prestigious Red List, which is a faithful reflection of the state of biodiversity worldwide. Even before the changes in this status were communicated and given the trend of deterioration of the situation, the BIOPARC Foundation and the Valencian park, with the recommendation of the European African Elephant Conservation Program (EEP), decided to form a controlled breeding group to fight for the survival of the species. In November 2022, a savanna elephant was born for the first time (Loxodonta africana), in the Valencian Community, Makena, and in March of this year the joy was renewed with another “little elephant”.

We want to thank the participation with more than 7.000 votes in this important decision that draws attention to the endangered situation of this majestic species.

As is usual in these relevant cases, BIOPARC wanted to share the choice of the little one's name and a popular vote was enabled among the three proposals of the technical team: Meru, Kenya's national park, in addition to a river and a mountain, has obtained 19%; 28% have opted for Makonnen, which means “worthy of respect; and Malik, of Arabic origin and which refers to “king”, has finally been chosen by 53% of the more than 7.000 entries.

The birth in the middle of last month occurred as a result of BIOPARC's participation in the international African elephant conservation program, which has decimated its population atrociously from 26 million in 1800 to 350.000 today.

Both BIOPARC Foundation , the the parks of Fuengirola, Valencia and the Gijón Aquarium, continue with their firm commitment to the protection of these threatened species. It is necessary to transfer information and in the case of the largest land animal on our planet it is terrible, since it is estimated that in 1800 the African continent was populated by about 26 million elephants. Just a century later, in 1900, much of it had already been lost and about 10 million remained. Now, in the second decade of the new century, The figures point to around 350.000. In addition to denouncing this situation and being actively involved in conservation, the role of BIOPARC continues to be essential in bringing nature closer to society through the recreation of its beauty. The objective is that they can contemplate it as a first step to reconnect and act towards their protection.

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