Melbourne Zoo 2013!

Now for some much better news from Melbourne Zoo  

(below article taken from Zoos Victoria)



It's a boy!


Asian Elephant Dokkoon has given birth overnight to her second calf.

Born at 2:40am and weighing in at 131 kilograms, the male calf is the fourth Asian Elephant to be born at Melbourne Zoo.

Mum Dokkoon went into labour shortly after midnight and keepers were on hand to help the young calf to take his first steps within a few minutes of the birth.

He suckled for the first time shortly after 7am and has taken to it enthusiastically.

The calf is a baby brother for Mali, Melbourne Zoo’s first-ever elephant calf, born in 2010. She will be four in January.

Both mum and baby are doing well and beginning to bond. In the coming days and weeks, the young calf will begin the introduction process to the rest of the herd. It is difficult to say when Dokkoon and her calf will be on display.

After the tragic loss of Sanook on Wednesday, this is a bitter sweet moment for our zoo family. Our keepers are now focused on returning the herd to normalcy and caring for the latest addition.

Oh dear that is a really devastating piece of news, and I wonder how on earth it happened, as you say Littlewid, may be a lesson to the learned, although I imagine it was a freak accident. RIP poor little Sanook.

Thanks for posting a bit of good news as well GR - how lovely to have a new ele calf.

Lai