A 35-year-old elephant, named "Sari," gave birth to this female calf, weighing 69 kilograms and 108 centimeters in height, the Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) Agency head, Jefry Susyafrianto, stated.
Shortly after giving birth, Sari consumed its placenta to obtain postpartum benefits, Susyafrianto noted in a statement that ANTARA quoted here, Thursday.
The health of both mother and the baby remains stable, but the agency's veterinarians have continued to monitor their condition, he stated, adding that the veterinarians had given vitamins and medicine to Sari.
The TNGL Agency would later name the newly born elephant, he stated.
Currently, the Tangkahan CRU takes care of nine captive wild elephants. The oldest one, aged about 40, is called Theo, he noted.
The Sumatran elephants that are native to the Indonesian Island of Sumatra are categorized as endangered animals partly owing to ongoing human-wildlife conflicts.
In protecting them from extinction, Executive Director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi)-North Sumatra Office Doni Latuperisa opined that more clusters of elephant rehabilitation centers are required.
The rehabilitation centers would help care for wild Sumatran elephants trespassing into people's spatial areas or getting ensnared in wire.
"Of course, we must put an end to the human-wildlife conflict," he emphasized.
In Padang Lawas District, North Sumatra Province, the Barumun Nagari Wildlife Sanctuary (BNWS) has an elephant rehabilitation center that tends to 15 elephants, Latuperisa noted in a press statement.
"They are all healthy and active," Latuperisa remarked, adding that the Tangkahan CRU also offers protection to Sumatran elephants.
The Tangkahan CRU, which manages 17 thousand hectares of land, has become a popular ecotourism site among domestic and foreign tourists, who can seize the opportunity to witness up-close wild elephants in their natural habitat, he stated.
Meanwhile, the North Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) manages three elephant conservation sites that are home to 22 wild elephants.
Some 15 of them are found in the BNWS conservation area; four are cared for by the Aek Nauli Elephant Conservation Camp, Simalungun District; and three others are tended to by the Gajah Holiday Training Center in Labuhan Batu Selatan District.
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Translator: Nur ABS, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Sri Haryati
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