In Asian first, Thai elephant born by artificial insemination

THAILAND: An artificially inseminated elephant has given birth to a healthy male calf in Thailand, a scientific first in Asia that could help protect the endangered animal, a veterinarian said Friday.

“We were so happy. Both mother and baby were healthy and well,” said Sittidet Mahasawangkul, the head of Elephant Hospital under the state-run Elephant Conservation Center in the northern province of Lampang.

“His birth gave us great hope, since this is the first success of artificial insemination in Thailand and Asia,” he said.

The calf was born at the hospital late Wednesday, weighing 100 kilogrammes (220 pounds) and around 90 centimetres (three feet) tall, he said.

“His weight and height were perfectly normal,” Sittidet said, adding that the 24-year-old mother, Phang Khod, was artificially impregnated in June 2005.

The pair were under 24-hour watch at the hospital because the three-tonne mother accidentally killed its first baby elephant by kicking it in 2004.

“We were nervous when we put them together, but the mother was taking care of the baby,” Sittidet said.

The father of the baby, which is yet to be named, was a 15-year-old Israeli-born elephant.

The father elephant moved to Thailand several years ago.

Elephants are a national symbol of Thailand, but their numbers have dwindled.

Fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild, while habitat loss and poaching threaten the existence of the species, particularly in Southeast Asia, the conservation center said.

Thailand’s total elephant population is nearly 5,000, with up to 2,000 of them in the wild, it said.

Bangkok, Friday, AFP