Melbourne Zoo staff excited about elephant Dokkoon’s baby

December 10, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

Staff at the Melbourne Zoo have been anxiously preparing elephant Dokkoon for the birth of her baby.

Dokkoon is expected to give birth any time in the next six weeks, and staff at the Melbourne Zoo are excited. “She’s got a great personality for being a parent,” elephant curator Jan Steele told the Herald Sun today.

Dokkoon, brought from Thailand along with females Kulab and Num-Oi, is a first time mother at the age of 16, and the father, Bong Su, arrived to the zoo from Malaysia on February 1, 1977. Bong Su was rescued after his mother was shot by wildlife personnel for straying into rice paddies.

Caretakers plan to keep Bong Su from the animal barn despite being well-tempered for a male. The other female elephants, not familiar with child birth, will be allowed in the barn to see, hear, and smell the event, but from behind barriers to prevent interference.

Dokkoon will receive special attention as it’s crucial she be kept calm during the process. “We will be keeping everything very quiet and keeping the same routine,” said Steele. “She’s very easy-going. She’s in great shape. She’s feeling great.”

Steele told The Age last week that once a bulge is seen underneath, “the keepers can go in there and help her.”

”Because it’s going to be a very shocking thing for her, she’s not going to know what’s going on and she’ll need reassurance from people she trusts,” said Steele.

”As soon as it hits the ground, we’ll pull the baby away from Mom’s kicking legs, clear the nasal passages, make sure the baby can breathe, help it up, move it over to where Mom can sniff it, [and] start getting her to bond with the baby.”

Caretakers hope that Dokkoon doesn’t reject the baby, something that occasionally happens in the wild. If she does, they plan to raise the baby on milk powder.

The sex of the calf isn’t currently known due to difficulties in determination. It’s not yet clear if the baby will be available for public viewing.

Go watch a video of mother Dokkoon, posted by the Herald Sun: Dokkoon’s baby shower