Rio is the name of the host city where the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held starting this August. It’s also now the name of one of three 11-week-old Mexican gray wolf puppies at the Brookfield Zoo.
Rio, meaning river in Spanish, was named alongside Azul, meaning blue in Spanish and signifying the Blue Range Mountains in Arizona, and Ela, meaning Earth in Spanish.
Over the past two weeks, more than 20,000 votes were casted to determine the names for the pups.
The healthy, playful Mexican Gray Wolf puppies continue to explore their habitat at the Regenstein Wolf Woods at the Brookfield Zoo as they are nearly fully accustomed and eating solid foods.
The Blue Range Mountains is a release site for the Mexican gray wolf recovery program. Two other puppies born in the litter, named Blaze and Brooke, were placed with the wild Elk Horn Pack in Arizona as part of the recovery program’s cross-fostering efforts earlier this spring.
Once on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, the Mexican gray wolf was common throughout the American Southwest, according to the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the recovery program. While the species is not close to extinction, it is still considered endangered.
