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A newborn male Asian Elephant, nicknamed Mr Shuffles, stands under its mother at Taronga Zoo in Sydney - Source: Reuters -
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Sydney's largest newborn weighs a healthy 116kg and is managing to feed himself after surviving a nine-day labour.
Declared a miracle after experts were convinced the male elephant had died in his mother's womb, the calf nicknamed Mr Shuffles is slowly becoming stronger after entering the world early on Wednesday.
"Despite no vital signs of life for several days, we now have obviously a healthy little calf on the ground," Taronga Zoo director Cameron Kerr has told reporters.
The calf, which is the second Asian elephant to be born at the zoo, has managed to stand on his own, Kerr says.
His 18-year-old mother Porntip "was doing everything one could expect from a first time cow".
"She's very gentle with him, she is looking after him," Kerr says.
But the calf is "not out of the woods yet" and keepers are keeping a round-the-clock vigil.
"This little calf has been through a incredibly tough time," Kerr says.
"There is no record anywhere else in the world - of the 10,000 births, there is no recording - of a labour that has gone this long.
"There is no recording of a calf being absolutely still for several days like this."
Zoo staff had believed the calf had died on Monday inside its mother due to a difficult labour which began on March 1.
It appears the traumatic labour, during which he turned upside down, may have induced a state of coma, fooling zoo vets.
Senior elephant keeper Katharina Theodore was first on the scene when the calf, which staff have nicknamed Mr Shuffles, was found.
Theodore says Porntip, the matriarch of Taronga's herd, at first did not respond when she called to her early on Wednesday morning.
"I called her name. She didn't turn around at all. I started to get upset because she seemed to be in a stupor."
Theodore then noticed blood on Porntip and assumed she had delivered a deceased calf.
"I was kind of happy she had at least expelled the calf," she says.
"And then, mind-blowingly enough, the calf raised its head.
"We were saying, `it's a live calf, it's a calf'."
Other members of Taronga's elephant herd have warmly accepted the calf, and even missed their breakfast on Thursday morning to greet him.
The calf and his mother are expected to remain in a warm elephant barn out of public sight and under 24-hour monitoring and care for some time.
