Miracle baby elephant gets Miracle for a name

Thu, 25 Mar 2010

Sydney - The baby elephant at Sydney's Taronga Zoo that two weeks ago defied the experts and was born alive and well is Mr Shuffles no more.

The calf that vets mistakenly said had died in his mother's womb was Thursday named Pathi Harn, which means "miracle" in Thai.

Pathi Harn had outgrown his Mr Shuffles nickname, as he no longer lumbers along like an old man but scampers like the healthy infant he has become.

"He used to just hide under his mother, Porntip, and stay between her legs most of the day but now he comes out and has a look around and a play," a zoo spokesman said.

Thai Consul General Kiattikhun Chartprasert, guest of honor at a naming ceremony that Buddhist monks led, said the back-from-the-dead calf showed "the beauty of life while respecting the possibility of death at the same time."

Pathi Harn is the third elephant to be born in Australia's Asian elephant captive breeding program that began with a shipment of elephants from Thailand.

"I believe the miracle of this calf will become another part of the Thai legacy in Australia," Chartprasert said.

A fourth baby elephant, also resulting from artificial insemination, is due at Taronga in December.

More than 10,000 people entered a competition to pick a name from a list of seven Thai monikers. Pathi Harn won 47 per cent of the votes cast.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315689,miracle-baby-elephant-gets-miracle-for-a-name.html.