Elephant Calf Takes First Steps

A baby elephant that zookeepers are calling a "miracle" after presuming him to be stillborn is now shuffling around his pen in an Australian zoo.

The 255-pound male calf was born Wednesday morning after veterinarians at Sydney's Taronga Zoo declared him dead in the womb after they recorded no vital signs during his mother's six days of labor. It was the longest labor ever recorded for a land mammal.

But the newborn apparently survived in a coma, even despite an ultrasound test that concluded he had died. "That unconscious state would explain the complete absence of any vital signs during all the checks and examinations conducted during the labor," senior veterinarian Larry Vogelnest told a huge crowd of reporters gathered at a news conference in Sydney.

Elephant keeper Katharina Theodore described her surprise when the calf was born alive. "Mind-blowingly enough, the calf raised its head," she told the crowd. "We were going, 'it's a live calf, it's a live calf!' and all of our careful planning just kicked into place ... We radioed the vets and got them down to help us and assist us immediately."

About 20 staff monitored the newborn through his first night.

Zookeepers have temporarily named him "Mr. Shuffles" because of the way he sluggishly took his first steps today. "He's got an old-man shuffle going on at the moment," Theodore said.

Vogelnest told the Australian public broadcaster ABC that the baby also passed a "crucial milestone" today by suckling from his mother for the first time. But Vogelnest said he's still concerned about the newborn's circulation and the risk of infection.

"He appears to have a lot more coordination, has great control of his trunk and is shuffling around much more confidently. The calf is also very alert, a good sign considering his eventful start to life," Vogelnest said. "He is still not completely out of the woods but these are all very good signs and things we wanted to see happen within the first 24 hours after his incredible birth."

Supervisors had to urge excited zoo staffers to go home and get some rest after staying with the baby elephant through the night, he added.

The zoo's CEO, Cameron Kerr, said the elephant's live birth has been an amazing experience for zoo workers. "I have staff around here with very dark rings around their eyes," he told ABC. "But fortunately, because of the turnaround in events, they've got lovely smiles on their faces."

The calf and its mother, named Porntip which means "eternally blessed" in the Thai language, will be kept together in a warm barn today away from the public.

Porntip was pregnant for almost two years after being artificially inseminated. This is her first time giving birth.

The zoo is asking the public to submit suggestions for an official name for "Mr. Shuffles," which they say should reflect his Thai heritage.

Taronga's elephants are part of a conservation breeding program in Australia for Asian elephants, whose numbers in the wild may have slumped to as low as 34,000 across their home countries in Asia.
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Steve Robinson, because we are mate's I gotta ask, what the heck kind of name is Porntip???