Több mint 50 év után ismét elefántbébi született a Budapesti Állatkertben.
The baby was born on February 14, a perfect Valentine’s Day present for the zoo. Especially because the last such joyous event in Budapest took place in 1961. The baby and mother, the twelve-year-old Angele of La Palmyre Zoo, are well, although it is uncertain whether the nurturing of the baby elephant will go without problems. The keepers are monitoring if the baby is feeding well and if the mother is looking after her young properly. This is Angele’s first offspring, and she cannot be considered experienced in caring for her baby. The estimated height of the baby is one meter and weighs approximately 85 kilograms. Father of the baby, the thirteen-year-old Assam of Chester Zoo, for a time being has to stay out of spotlight.
“To ensure that nothing disturbs the peace and quite of the animals, we closed off the Elephant House from the outside world almost hermetically. Hence, the public may not view yet the animals living here, and even among the staff of the Zoo, only keepers and veterinarians specifically assigned to care for the elephants may enter the restricted area,” announced a Budapest Zoo spokesperson.
If the baby is feeding with reassuring frequency and the mother’s behavior remains normal, the public will be allowed to visit the Elephant House. Depending on the development of the elephant baby, competent staff of the Zoo will determine when the elephants will be displayed again.
The newly born Valentine’s Day calf already suckles milk from its mother’s breast in the Budapest Zoo. This is very important since the baby did not succeed at first and could only get the essential milk with human help. In the first 24 hours the baby did not find its mother’s breasts at all, therefore caregivers and veterinarians milked the elephant mom called Angele and fed the baby elephant with the extracted milk. Since then such feeding happened more times and fortunately it turned out that the baby can be called to the nursing bottle.
The fate of the little elephant has been followed by many in recent days. People have asked information about its condition and hoped that everything would turn out ok. The Zoo still asks for the patience of the visitors: the Elephant House remains closed as long as calm environment is required for the mom and her baby.
In the history of the Budapest Zoo and Botanic Garden five elephant calves were born, the last one on May 10 in 1961. Since then in the past half century, however not a single Asian elephant was born in Hungary until now.
source: www.budapest.hu
joyous – örömteljes
uncertain – bizonytalan
to nurture – táplálni, szoptatni, gondozni
keeper – ápoló
to monitor – megfigyelni, felügyelni
to feed – etetni, táplálkozni
to look after – törődni, valaki gondját viselni
properly – megfelelően
offspring – utód
to be considered – tartani valaminek
experienced – tapasztalt
spotlight – reflektorfény
to ensure – biztosítani
to disturb – zavarni
to close off – lezárni
hence – ennélfogva, ezért
assigned – illetékes, felhatalmazott
restricted area – korlátozott/tiltott terület/övezet
reassuring – megnyugtató
frequency – gyakoriság
behavior – viselkedés
to remain – maradni
to allow – (meg)engedni
depending on – valamitől függően
competent – hozzáértő, alkalmas
to determine – meghatározni, eldönteni
to display – kiállítani, bemutatni
newly born – újszülött
calf – borjú
to suckle – szopni, szoptatni
breast – mell
to succeed – sikerül valamit csinálni, sikeresnek lenni
caregiver – gondviselő
to milk – fejni
to extract – megszerezni, kivonni
fortunately – szerencsére
to turn out – kiderülni
nursing bottle – cumisüveg
fate – sors
in recent days – a napokban
condition – állapot
patience – türelem
calm – nyugodt
environment – környezet
required – szükséges
not a single – egyetlen sem
Végezetül pedig nézzünk meg egy rövid angol nyelvű videót a budapesti állatkertről!
