Elephant Breeding
This elephant orphanage is also conducts captive breeding of some elephants in its care. The natural environment and healthy care and feeding at Pinnawala made the elephant breeding program a success. The first birth at Pinnawala was in 1984, Sukumalee, a female was born to Vijaya and Kumar who were aged 21 and 20 years respectively at the time. The males Vijaya and Neela and females Kumari, Anusha, Mathalie and Komali have since then parented several baby elephants. More than twenty-three elephants were born from 1984 to 1991. In 1998 there were fourteen births at Pinnawala, eight males and six females, with one second generation birth in early 1998. Since then till early 2012, 84 more were born at Pinnawalla.
12 elephants were released to temples and private owners since June, 2011. Shama (female, aged 24), Lasanda (female, aged 18), Mihindu (male, aged 13), Haritha (male, aged 10 years), Atlas (male, aged seven), Charaka (male, aged five), Asela (male aged 8), Tharindu (male aged 5), Wasana ( Male aged 11), Arjuna ( male aged 14) and Vishwa (male aged 5) were among those.
Read more about this topic: Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
Famous quotes containing the words elephant and/or breeding:
“Even the elephant carries but a small trunk on his journeys. The perfection of traveling is to travel without baggage.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The test of a man’s or woman’s breeding is how they behave in a quarrel. Anybody can behave well when things are going smoothly.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)