In a gesture of thanks for her contributions, the Bannerghatta Biological Park has named an elephant calf after author, social worker and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation Sudha Murty. This is an acknowledgement of her contributions to wildlife conservation.
The female calf in question was born to a 45-year-old elephant named Suvarna on August 17, which took the population of elephants to 25 in Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP).
Happy to announce that Elephant Suvarna's calf will be named as 'Sudha' to acknowledge the contribution of Chairperson, Infosys Foundation, Sudha Murthy towards the cause of wildlife conservation.Madam has kindly consented to our proposal to do so. @ZKarnataka @Infy_Foundation pic.twitter.com/DWYVAVAHSI
— Bannerghatta Zoo (@bannerghattazoo) August 25, 2020
Executive Director of BBP, Vanashree Vipin Singh, told PTI, "In BBP, Infosys Foundation has contributed towards execution of work of tiger enclosure, zebra enclosure, giraffe enclosure, borewell, addressing drinking water storage, and staff welfare through their resources." She added that Sudha used to personally monitor work at BBP. She also contributed to the development of the Binkadakatti mini zoo that is located in Gadag, Karnataka.
A senior Indian Forest Service officer said to IANS, "In the past, I have named one elephant after Tulsi Gowda who was a Padma Shri awardee and worked in the field of environment. She was from Karnataka and had done a lot of plantation work. It was done to recognize her services to environmental causes."
Earlier, the zoo had shared pictures of another elephant named Roopa that had given birth to a calf on August 2 and later shared videos of Roopa’s calf doing well. The calf is seen walking with the herd and its mother. “Calf is suckling well and interacting with the rest of the herd! Other females are very protective of the calf and Roopa is getting special feed too,” the Twitter account of Bannerghatta Zoo said along with the video clip.
Day 2 of elephant Roopa's calf!
— Bannerghatta Zoo (@bannerghattazoo) August 2, 2020
Calf is suckling well and interacting with the rest of the herd!
Other females are very protective of the calf and Roopa is getting special feed too!!@ZKarnataka @aranya_kfd pic.twitter.com/1wvri6bzCK
The government-run BBP houses nearly 2,300 animals and has 101 different species which are spread across 731.88 hectares.