india

Updated: Aug 04, 2019 13:14 IST

Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR), for the first time, celebrated the birthday of an elephant calf, named Sawan, born in August last year by preparing a 140kg cake made of jaggery, bananas, hay, and flour, made specially by a mahout.

RK Tiwari, sub-divisional forest officer (SDO) from Kalagarh in February 2017 said that it was the calf of one of the nine elephants that had been brought in from Karnataka. “One of the female elephants Kachambha was pregnant when she arrived here. Sawan was born to that pregnant elephant and all of us here have grown very fond of Sawan”, he said.

“So we decided to celebrate its first birthday on Friday and made a special cake for it. And to our pleasant surprise, the birthday boy relished the special cake made for him. We had made it from his favorite things like jaggery, bananas, hay, and flour. The cake was decorated with marigold flowers and balloons, said Tiwari, adding that the elephant calf was also garlanded with marigold flowers.

Tiwari said its mother Kachambha was also brought to the venue where the birthday celebrations were held. “She was also fed her favourite food items. It all looked quite festive ”, he said

He said when principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Jai Raj visited the elephant shelter in Kalagarh in June he had told Tiwari that elephants are fond of playful activities like splashing water or playing with a football.

“PCCF had directed us that some officials from Corbett should visit Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Centre Mathura and get information about how they are using playful activities and toys to create a good atmosphere for the elephants that help them in de-stressing. This birthday celebration is a step in that direction, to make them stress-free and jubilant”, he said.

In June, the CTR administration had decided to introduce 16 of its elephants to playful activities with toys and footballs to de-stress these captured elephants that are used for patrolling the forest areas. Tiwari said when elephants who have been separated from their wild habitats engage in playful activities it helps them remain cheerful and get good exercise.

Officials have been worried about the increasing aggression in some of the wild elephants in Corbett landscape. Corbett Tiger Reserve currently has a total of 16 elephants which are used for patrolling and monitoring by the field staff after they being trained by mahouts.

Wildlife expert Ritesh Joshi, who is a scientist at the Conservation and Survey Division at the Ministry of Environment and Forests and author of the Secret Life of Elephants said elephants are very sensitive social animals, and are affected in varying degrees when away from their matriarchal families. “Being compassionate and sensitive towards such elephants helps them a lot in not getting stressed or agitated,’’ said Joshi.

Corbett landscape is a stronghold for elephants. Of the 1797 elephants in Uttarakhand, as per last elephant census(2015), 1,035 elephants are found in Corbett landscape. Earlier this May, elephant fossils were found in CTR’s Bijrani range, which experts believe likely belong to elephant species Elephas hysudricus, the ancestor of the preset Asian elephant species Elephas Maximus could be 0.2 to 2 million years old.