Twycross celebrates the birth of our new baby elephant (From Worcester News)

Twycross celebrates the birth of our new baby elephant

2:26pm Monday 17th August 2009 in News

After a time of worry it is now time to celebrate the birth of our new baby elephant.

The (as yet unnamed) calf gave staff reason for concern last week when he suddenly turned a little off colour on his third day. Expert vets were called in to monitor the calf and to support his keepers and our vet team. Everyone is extremely pleased with his progress as he is now much stronger, very vocal and back to feeding mainly from his mum Noorjahan. He can be seen spending parts of each day outside with Noorjahan in the rearing enclosure where both can have close contact with the rest of the herd.

Noorjahan, Twycross Zoo’s Asian elephant, gave birth to the male calf on Thursday 6 August after a 22 month gestation period. He has a fluffy layer of grey hair all over his body and stands just over a metre tall; he weighs just over 100 kg (nearly 16 stone).

Our “little” boy is quite a character. He’s strong and feisty whilst remaining under the vigilant eye of his protective mother. Lucky members of the public may be able to catch a quick glimpse of him, but he is still having quiet times in the elephant house during the day.

He will suckle from his Noorjahan until he is approximately 12 months old then he will begin to take solids such as vegetables, fruit and hay. When he is fully grown he will eat his way through four bales of hay every day, these will be accompanied by several buckets of fruit and vegetables along with numerous gallons of water a day to wash it all down.

This is the third elephant birth for Twycross Zoo and strangely enough he was born on the same day as our first elephant baby, Tara, who was born in 1998. Tara is still at the Zoo with her mother Tonzi and is proving to be an excellent aunt to the new calf. Our second baby elephant, Karishma, was born on the 27th August 1998 and she recently moved to Whipsnade Zoo on breeding loan where she has become an important member of their herd.

This is a very special birth for Twycross Zoo as Noorjahan was our first artificially inseminated (A.I.) elephant. We have a natural, all female family herd here at the Zoo. In the wild bull elephants would not live with the females as they live a solitary life and only join a herd for mating. Rather than bring a bull to our herd we decided to use the ground breaking A.I. technique. Experts flew in from Germany to inseminate Noorjahan with a sample taken from the bull elephant, Emmett, at Whipsnade Zoo, Zoological Society of London.

Asian elephants are endangered due to hunting and habitat loss and captive breeding programmes are essential to ensure the survival of this species. Artificially Insemination (A.I.) gives zoos the opportunity to maintain a genetically and healthy captive population.

Noorjahan has settled into motherhood extremely well caring, smelling, touching and loving her newborn. She is now thirteen and was born at Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, West Bengal, India she arrived at Twycross Zoo on 17th April 1998. She has been used to babies around her as she was only three years old when Tara and Karishma were born.

Suzanne Boardman, Director, Twycross Zoo said, “The birth of our Asian elephant is a great success for Twycross Zoo and the breeding programme in Europe. We are relieved that he is now back to full strength which is a tribute to the keeping staff in the Elephant House who have been monitoring mum and baby constantly. We are proud that Emmett is the farther of this special calf and wish to thank Whipsnade Zoo, Zoological Society of London for all their support”

Twycross Zoo is the world’s most comprehensive collection of primate species. Twycross is a popular visitor attraction for families and school children welcoming over 500,000 visitors annually. Opening times for visitors are summer 10.00 am – 5.30 pm and winter 10.00 am - 4.00 pm; the Zoo is open 364 days a year only closing Christmas Day.