Taronga mourns death of baby elephant

8 Mar 2010, 4:11 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Taronga zoo's elephant Porntip survived giving birth to a stillborn calf and is being monitored around the clock. (AAP)

Taronga zoo's elephant Porntip survived giving birth to a stillborn calf and is being monitored around the clock. (AAP)

A baby elephant has died at Sydney's Taronga Zoo during a complicated birth process, staff say.

They say an elephant never forgets.

The past few days are likely to be seared in the memories of elephants - and staff - at Sydney's Taronga Zoo.

The matriarch of the zoo's elephant herd, Porntip, showed on March 1 she was ready to give birth to a 100kg calf, after having been artificially inseminated about 22 months before.

But by Sunday night ultrasound scans made it clear the calf had rotated inside its mother's womb and was lying upside down.

The inverted position made the birth impossible, Dr Thomas Hildebrandt, a renowned expert on elephant births from the Berlin Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Health, told reporters in Sydney on Monday.

Sadly, staff believe the Asian elephant calf died on Sunday night.

The baby pachyderm's sex will remain unclear until Porntip naturally passes it from her body, which is expected to be in the coming weeks or months.

Vets and carers, many involved in round-the-clock monitoring of Porntip, said the loss of a calf was common among first-time elephant mothers and nothing could have been done to prevent the death.

"It's been incredibly emotional," Taronga Zoo director Cameron Kerr told reporters.

He said the other members of the zoo's elephant herd were well aware of the tragedy and had shown signs they knew exactly what was going on.

The females would remember what had happened and would benefit from the experience when they fell pregnant in future, Mr Kerr said.

Zoo staff, in private, have shed plenty of tears.

"We're very tired and very sad, for all of us really," Mr Kerr continued.

"The other side of it is we've learnt a lot and this is part of a process.

"I am absolutely confident that with the care (Porntip) has, she'll breed again, and that will be the best outcome for us."

Porntip continues to be monitored 24 hours a day.

On Monday afternoon she was back out on public display - pulling a log along the ground when asked by carers and blowing water from her trunk.

It's likely she'll pass the dead calf out of her body in the coming weeks or even months, zoo vet Dr Larry Vogelnest says.

However, the process can take up to a year.

An elephant has the unique ability to compartmentalise a dead calf from the rest of its body, protecting the mother from infection or other illness, he added.

First-time elephant mothers suffer failed births in 50 per cent of cases.

But their chances of giving birth to healthy calves improve greatly the second time around, a spokesman for Taronga Zoo told AAP.

Taronga's existing baby elephant, Luk Chai, born in July last year, was in robust health, Dr Vogelnest said.

Another Taronga elephant, Pak Boon, is due to give birth at the end of this year.

It will also be her first birth.

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