JAKARTA: Lisa, a tame female elephant, gave birth to a male calf on Monday (Sept 28) evening at the Elephant Flying Squad camp in Tesso Nilo National Park, Pelalawan regency, Riau.
Tesso Nilo National Park head Heru Sutmantoro said the birth was good news for efforts to conserve the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) in Riau.
“This is a good news for sustainability for the population of protected animals and those threatened with extinctions,” Heru said on Wednesday.
“The birth shows that efforts to maintain and take care of protected animals keeps yielding positive results.”
It was the sixth delivery for the 45-year-old elephant. The male calf was conceived from natural mating between Lisa and a wild elephant residing the national park. Heru said the yet unnamed calf signalled the continuous elephant breeding process at the national park.
“The calf is the result of breeding between a tamed and wild elephant,” he said.
"The birth shows that tame and wild elephants can breed successfully in the wild, which is important for sustaining the Sumatran elephant population," he said. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
