A wild elephant gave birth on farmland at Sijdiha in the Kalaikunda range of the Kharagpur forest division in Jhargram, West Bengal, Ei Samay reports. The rest of the herd moved back into the forest, but because the newborn could not yet stand, the mother stayed on guard all night. At first light on Saturday the calf got to its feet and the mother set off with it towards the forest.
The forest department said a herd of about 45 elephants had been raiding crop fields at night for four days from the Haribhanga forest in the Kalaikunda range. On Friday night officials tried to drive the herd across the Subarnarekha river towards Nayagram, but it turned back at the river and returned to Haribhanga.
A Kharagpur forest division official said one elephant gave birth in a field at Sijdiha on the way back. The herd returned to the forest while the mother stood her ground; once the calf could walk, she guided it with her trunk to the herd in the Haribhanga forest. The department is keeping a close watch on mother and calf.
Elephant expert and former forest officer Samir Majumdar said elephants are matriarchal and intelligent animals that, like people, protect their young and will attack if they sense danger to them. Where elephants regularly raid fields, keeping well away from a mother and newborn calf is the safe course.
Photo: tontantravel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0); Asian elephant mother and calf (Thailand), for illustration
Source: Ei Samay
Comments
(0)