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South Sumatra welcomes newborn Sumatran elephant calf
An elephant training center in South Sumatra has welcomed a newborn female Sumatran elephant, which is critically endangered on the IUCN's Red List.
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Elsa (right), a 24-year-old Sumatran elephan, stands beside her newborn female calf on July 13, 2022 at the Route 21 Padang Sugihan elephant training center (PLG) in Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra. (Environment and Forestry Ministry/File)
T
he Route 21 Padang Sugihan elephant training center (PLG) in Banyuasin regency, South Sumatra, has recently welcomed the birth of a healthy female Sumatran elephant calf.
The calf was born at approximately 5 a.m. on July 13. Her parents are Elsa, aged 24 years and 10 months, from the Route 18 Air Sugihan PLG in Ogan Komering Ilir regency, and 31-year-old bull elephant Gapula, who is under the care of mahout Hariyanto at the Route 21 Padang Sugihan PLG.
At birth, the calf measured 77 centimeters tall with a chest 102 cm in diameter and had no physical anomalies. Her forelegs were 50 cm in diameter and her hind legs 49 cm in diameter. Her trunk was 36 cm long and her tail, 39 cm long.
“We are very happy to welcome the birth of a female calf at the Route 21 Padang Sugihan PLG. This is an achievement in the effort to conserve and to increase the Sumatran elephant population, especially in South Sumatra,” Ujang Wisnu Barata, the head of the South Sumatra Natural Resources and Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said as quoted in a press release published on the Environment and Forestry website on Wednesday.
The Route 21 Padang Sugihan PLG currently houses 28 elephants.
The ministry’s species and genetic biodiversity conservation director, Indra Eksploitasia, said the Sumatran elephant was among the species prioritized for conservation, and that the government was working to increase the animal’s population by 10 percent.
“We appreciate the South Sumatra BKSDA for managing elephant training centers that have conserved and increased the population of elephants through ex situ to in situ programs,” Indra said on Wednesday.
“We hope that through such programs, there will be more elephant calves [born] in situ to increase the genetic diversity of elephants in the wild. We hope that Sumatran elephants can be conserved in the wild, including in Sumatra.”
She added that the animal was one of 25 species under threat of extinction listed in Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation Director General’s Decree No. 180/2015, and that the species was also protected under Environment and Forestry Ministry Regulation No. 106/2018.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the Sumatran elephant as “critically endangered” on its Red List since 2011.
