WRITTEN off for dead just five days ago, Taronga Zoo's teak-tough elephant calf has emerged from intensive care to perform his first routine on the public stage.

Sticking close to the protective belly of his mother Porntip, the calf, dubbed Mr Shuffles, gingerly explored the confines of one of the world's more unlikely elephant breeding grounds on the harbour's rocky edge on the fringe of Mosman.

Venturing close to the waters of his yard's little pond, his trunk danced like a conductor's baton as he sampled smells and textures of his world, tasting the palm trunk that was his mother's breakfast. He sniffed sawdust and almost teetered over as he struggled up a tiny mound of earth, a first lesson on just how high an elephant's centre of gravity really is.

Apart from his bloodshot eyes, which are a normal feature of birth, he appears remarkably healthy. Although, the zoo's experts are still struggling to comprehend how quickly the 116-kilogram infant has recovered from a week-long labour, including three motionless days in a coma with no hint of a heartbeat.