Elephant Twins Born At Pinnawela Recently

Local News Media Info Research

Editor

October 4, 2022

Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Conservation, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera recently participated in a progress review meeting to discuss the work of the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and its existing deficiencies.

“Surangi” is the female elephant at the Pinnawala Elephant Sanctuary, who gave birth to twins recently.  The minister visited the two calves and fed them milk. He also treated the mother with fruits.

Surangi’s elder son is named “Sajjana” and the younger son who is a few minutes younger is named “Disa”.

A wildlife officer told the minister that it is possible to determine whether the baby elephant is an elephant or a Tusker at an early age.

When the minister asked the wildlife officer how, he replied as follows: “An elephant sucks its milk by pushing its mother’s udder with its head when it is young. Even so, a baby elephant that becomes a tusker when it grows up never pushes its mother’s breast to suck milk. They suck milk from a distance because they are afraid of causing pain to the mother elephant. Therefore, before they grow up, you can tell whether it’s a tusker or an elephant at a young age,” replied the wildlife officer.

After hearing the story of the wildlife officer, the minister said:

“The difference between an elephant and tusker is huge. Whether it’s an elephant or tusker, now we have to take care of them,” the minister said with a smile.

“The wildlife Department has prepared a list of wild animals that damage crops. Wild elephants were also included in that list. But the elephant is a great resource of our country. Therefore, I took steps to remove wild elephants from that list. The wild elephant is still on the protected animal list. Although wild elephants damage crops, this country gets a lot of income from tourists who come to our country. Therefore, we should take care of those animals even if we are troubled by wild elephants.

When an elephant falls into a cultivation well, the farmers try to save the animals the most. “Farmers of our country love wild elephants no matter how much they are harassed. Our farmers never say to kill a wild elephant that has fallen into a well,” the Minister noted.