That is, if your idea of beauty weighs more than 100 kilograms, consumes 12 litres of milk a day and is rather thick skinned.

The first elephant born in captivity in Australia arrived on July 4 and Taronga Zoo asked the public to help name the pint-sized pachyderm.

The only proviso was that the name be Thai because the calf's mum, Thong Dee, was saved from the streets of Bangkok.

More than 30,000 entries were submitted before zoo keepers settled on Luk Chai.

Tessa Blayney, 10, and her sister Kate, 8, from Jannali, came up with the winning name. They have won a family trip to Thailand, including a visit to an elephant sanctuary.

The zoo's chief executive, Guy Cooper, said the calf's name meant "my son'' in Thai.

"A word that sounds similar to Chai also means triumph and our boisterous and inquisitive boy certainly is a triumph for the conservation breeding program,'' he said.

The pitter patter of rather large feet has been a boon for the zoo, with visitor numbers almost tripling since the elephant's birth.