An Asian elephant at Melbourne Zoo has been born with a rare condition and is currently unable to stand.
The female calf was born on Wednesday and when she came out, two of her feet were curled backwards.
She has been diagnosed with congenital carpal flexure, which is rare in Asian elephants but can occur in horses.
She can’t walk and therefore hasn’t been able to feed from her mum Num-Oi (pictured above), so instead, keepers are bottle feeding her.
This method of feeding will only be sustained for a couple of weeks as elephants struggle to feed on artificial formula. This means that vets will have to move asap to resolve the little calf’s condition.
Dr Michael Lynch, head vet at Melbourne Zoo, said they’re now trying to treat the baby elephant by putting casts on both her legs, meaning they’ve had to separate mother and daughter. Num-Oi is rightfully in a sad state as she’s not with her baby.
Dr Lynch said: “It’s not a great situation, while in many other species you can bottle raise them, in elephants especially Asian elephants there’s very low success in bottle feeding a baby.”
“Our aim is that we can correct this condition and get her back with her mum as soon as possible, because that’s really her only chance of long-term success.”
He said that while the calf is getting the best care possible, the outcome is still uncertain.
Let’s hope the little baby makes a speedy recovery.
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