"Newborn elephants, like Kirby, are born with their eyes open," Rob Bernady, elephant curator at the zoo, told Chron. "This is because an elephant calf needs to keep up with their herd quickly.

They said the wide eyes help babies walk within hours of birth as well as keep up with their herd. Shanti, a 34-year-old Asian elephant, gave birth to the 314-pound calf on Nov. 15 after a 19-hour ...