PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium is beginning to resemble a maternity ward. About a month after the birth of a baby tiger, the zoo is about a week away from the arrival of not one but two baby elephants.

After 22 months gestation, it has been a long wait, zoo officials said.

Elephant Callee was born eight years ago to Nan, one of the two elephants pregnant again. Moja is the other pregnant elephant. The zoo's bull elephant, Jackson, impregnated both 25-year-old females.

"I missed it by one of two nights," said baby watch volunteer Roseanne Martino. "Someone called and said, 'It is happening, it is happening.' You could hear the elephants screaming in the background."

A training class conducted by mammal curator Amos Morris and elephant manager Willie Theison helped volunteers recognize the signs of elephant labor. On Sunday, they began manning the monitors in the barn in four-hour shifts every night.

Zookeepers will join the volunteers for round-the-clock watches.

A blood analysis from the two elephants shows it's 80 percent likely that both calves are females. The zoo is continuing to draw and analyze blood from both elephants to check for progesterone levels. When the hormone level drops, that means birth is imminent.

In order to prepare the elephants for giving birth, keepers have been taking them on a three mile walk every day around the zoo, getting them in shape.

When Moja has her baby, it will be the first since she killed a zookeeper six years ago. Zoo officials said she is confident and comfortable and they don’t expect any problems.

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