Photo by David Caird courtesy of the Herald Sun

Melbourne Zoo’s first-ever male Asian Elephant calf is one year old today.

Kulab gave birth to Ongard on the morning of September 10, 2010 after a night of hard labour, which was made very difficult by his size: Ongard’s first recorded weight was a hefty 142kg. 

He has thrived in the past 12 months, nursing from Kulab and also beginning to eat solid foods.

Ongard’s most recent weight is 630kg, so in the past year he has more than quadrupled his birth weight.

In fact, he is catching up fast to his older sister Mali, who was born in January 2010 at a relatively dainty 110kg and now weighs 750kg.

Curator Jan Steele says that ‘male Asian Elephants are always larger than females, and as their father Bong Su is an exceptionally tall male, we would expect that Ongard will also be a very impressive bull.’

Elephant Keeper Tully Johns describes Ongard as ‘’still a bit of a Mummy’s boy, but very keen to learn. 

‘He loves his training – he already knows his name. He’s learning a lot of husbandry behaviours that allow us to take good care of him, such as lifting his feet and opening his mouth for us.  He has his four teeth now, but his tusks aren’t showing yet.’

Ongard also enjoys playing with Mali, especially wallowing in the mud bath and swimming in the shallow end of the big pool.

Zoo Director Kevin Tanner says Ongard’s first birthday is another major milestone in the extremely successful regional cooperative conservation breeding program for this endangered species.

The program started almost five years ago when three young female elephants from Thailand joined Bong Su and Mek Kapah in Melbourne, at the same time as five young elephants arrived at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. 

Dokkoon and Kulab have both given birth to calves, and now the third female Num-Oi is pregnant, due at the end of 2012 or in January 2013.

Melbourne Zoo bull Bong Su is the father of these arrived calves and of one of the three calves born at Taronga Zoo as part of this important regional program.