A male elephant calf was found dead near Narasipuram here on Sunday. According to Forest Department officials, the calf died of poor intake of food after its mother died.
The carcass of the elephant calf, aged between 15 and 18 months, was found close to an elephant-proof trench at Valkaradu coming under block-II of Pooluvampatti reserve forest. Anti-poaching watchers, who went for a patrol in the forest located the carcass which was at least one day old.
District Forest Officer D. Venkatesh said that the elephant calf was orphaned after its mother died.
“Though it was having meagre amount of fodder, it lacked breastfeeding by mother,” said Mr. Venkatesh.
The carcass was autopsied by forest veterinary surgeon N.S. Manoharan. “The elephant’s stomach was empty. An elephant calf survives with mother’s milk in the first six months before starting to consume soft fodder.
Though calves start to eat normal fodder from one-and-a-half years, they require mother's milk for some more months till the digestion system gets fully developed,” he said.
Forest Department officials refuted allegations that the calf died of accidentally biting avittukkai, a country-made crude explosive used by poachers to hunt wild boars.