A baby elephant was born at the Jerusalem Tisch Family Zoological Gardens, making Israeli history, after being conceived through artificial insemination – one of only 10 elephants conceived in this manner. The pregnancy lasted two years, and labor 10 hours. The male baby was born to Tamar, a Thai elephant given 10 years ago as a gift from the Thai government to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Shai Doron, director general of the zoo, called the birth: “A breakthrough in the efforts to conserve the endangered species of Asian elephants.”