Trumpeting a jumbo gift

W
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CHINA DAILY
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LIFE
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MARCH 10 - 11, 2007
5
Trumpeting a jumbo gift
Young elephant
Migara is a special
gift from Sri Lanka
to the Chinese
people. Ye Jun
finds out about his
life at the Beijing
Zoo
Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa gives 5-year-old Migara
a sugarcane during a ceremony
to present him to the Beijing Zoo
on February 26, marking the 50th
anniversary of diplomatic ties
between China and Sri Lanka.
Wu Zhiyi
M
igara has no appetite
for vegetables grown
in Beijing, such as
cabbages, lettuce and
carrots. But he likes
what his neighbors eat: bamboo
shoots and stalks.
You’ve guessed it right, his neighbors are giant pandas.
And Migara is a five-year-old elephant, Sri Lanka’s gift of friendship to
China. Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa formally presented him to
China on February 26 to mark the
50th anniversary of diplomatic ties
between the two countries.
Migara is still a bit tense. In fact,
he has been in Beijing Zoo since February 15, after the 6.5-hour journey
from Colombo to Beijing.
Perhaps the change in temperature and the new environment are to
blame. Beijing Zoo is very different
from Migara’s environs in Sri Lanka.
Apart from the vast expanse of land
where he used to roam and play,
Beijing’s weather with the mercury
dropping to -9 C last week is making
him feel out of place.
The Pinnawella Elephant Orphanage, 90 kilometers north of Colombo
and Migara’s erstwhile home, has
a half-wild environment, where
elephants are raised in herds. The
average temperature in Sri Lanka
is 27 C almost throughout the year,
and in summer the mercury can
climb above 35 C. On top of that, Beijing hardly provides any fresh grass
or leaves, Migara’s favorite food, in
this season.
The temperature in Beijing Zoo’s
50-square-meter elephant enclosure is 16-18 C. The authorities
have installed six 1,500-watt electric heaters in Migara’s “room”. An
underground heating system keeps
the floor warm, and even the roof,
originally 13 meters high, has been
lowered to 5 meters to keep him
as warm as possible. Every effort
is being made to keep the “room”
temperature around 25 C.
“Temperature difference and
change in food are the two biggest
problems for Migara,” says Pinnawella orphanage’s veterinary surgeon Chandana Rajapaksa, who was
here to help the elephant settle down
in his new environment.
Set up in 1975, the orphanage has
84 elephants. It was built to house orphaned or injured calves found in the
jungles of Sri Lanka. The country has
about 5,000 elephants in the wild and
around 200 in captivity, used usually
for religious festivals.
“He is eating very little hay, and
nothing from local vegetables,” says
Li Peifu, head of a six-member team
of Chinese elephant keepers at the
zoo. But despite missing his favorite
food of fresh grass and leaves, the
1.5-meter tall, 1.8 meter-long and
Migara used to ‘steal’
other calves’ pellets,
a kind of special
nutritious food prepared
for pregnant and sick
elephants and calves. It
means he is healthy and
has a good appetite. We
picked Migara because
he was the best among
the elephants of his age.
CHANDANA RAJAPAKSA
Veterinary surgeon at Pinnawella
Elephant Orphanage
970-kilogram elephant “has been
eating properly and is in good physical condition”.
Migara is the third elephant to be
gifted by Sri Lanka to China. The first,
a bull elephant presented in 1972, is
in Tianjin to the southeast of Beijing,
and the second, a female gifted in
1979, in East China’s Shandong
Province.
“Raising the previous two was
easier because they were less than
one year old, and they reached Beijing
in summer,” Li said.
Migara has a small pair of tusks,
and would have to leave his herd at
this age even if he were in the wild.
An Asian elephant has a life span
of 80-90 years. “We picked Migara
because he was the best among the
elephants of his age,” Rajapaksa
said. “He is healthy and friendly to
people.”
Though Migara’s grandparents
were born and lived in the wild, his
mother was born at the orphanage.
His father was born in the wild, too,
but lived at the orphanage. “Migara
has always been playful,” Rajapaksa
said. He described one naughty habit
of the elephant with a chuckle: “Migara used to ‘steal’ other calves’
pellets, a kind of special nutritious
food prepared for pregnant and sick
elephants and calves. It means he
is healthy and has a good appetite,
and it should not be seen as a bad
habit.”
Fou r ma houts accompa n ied
Rajapaksa to Beijing, two of whom
are still at the zoo, and will leave
for Colombo on March 15, when
Migara’s month-long quarantine
ends. “We think Migara is doing
well here. His physical condition
is as good as it was back home,”
the surgeon says.
“Normally an elephant lies down
at night to sleep for six to eight hours
every day,” says Zhang Jinguo, deputy
director of Beijing Zoo. “But Migara
has not lain down since reaching
Beijing. He has taken naps while
standing.”
The authorities are trying their
best to get him his favorite food. They
transported 1,500 kilograms of fresh
grass and leaves from Guangzhou and
Nanning of southern China, said Li.
At 57, he has been working at the zoo
for 27 years.
“But he still eats a little fresh bamboo shoots and stalks borrowed from
the Panda Garden, sugarcane, some
fresh grass and leaves, bananas and
apples. He takes his pellets made from
corn regularly, though.”
The zoo hopes Migara will gradually begin eating the locally grown
vegetables because fresh grass and
leaves are very costly. There are
five other elephants in the zoo, two
African and three Asian. Elephants,
in fact, have been a regular feature
of the zoo ever since it was built in
1906.
“We are sure he will get along
with the other elephants. If everything goes smoothly, visitors will
be able to see Migara anytime after
mid-March on a day that is warm,
sunny and windless and when the
outdoor temperature rises to 12 C,”
said Zhang.
A 30-year-old female elephant
might accompany Migara on his
public debut, because usually an older
elephant takes care of the young by
nature, said Zhang.
Left: Chandana
Rajapaksa (left) and
his colleague from
Pinnawella Elephant
Orphanage have left
Beijing while the other
two mahouts stay
until March 15, when
Migara’s month-long
quarantine ends.
Lu Zhongqiu
Right: Mahouts
prepare Migara for the
ceremony on February
26 at the Beijing Zoo.
Courtesy of Beijing Zoo
WHO’SIN
Zhang Ziyi: ‘Most
successful’ woman
model of Western fashion shows,
and rising actresses Zhang Jingchu
and Sun Li.
Movie star Zhang Ziyi tops a
recent list of the most successful
modern women worldwide.
The list, launched by sohu.com, a
major portal in China, and BAZAAR, a leading vogue magazine,
was compiled from thousands of
online votes.
Zhang’s resolve, ambition, talent,
self-confidence and independence
were the traits that impressed voters the most.
The other women, all from showbiz, are Zhao Wei, an actress currently pursuing higher studies in
college, Li Yuchun, 2005 Supergirl
winner, Faye Wang, a retired pop
diva, Maggie Cheung, a well-known
Hong Kong movie star, Gong Li, the
internationally-known actress from
the mainland, Yang Lan, a reputed
TV presenter, Lu Yan, a popular
‘Palace’ party for
newlywed Hurley
British actress Elizabeth Hurley
and her new husband flew into the
historic city of Jodhpur on Wednesday, midway through a week of
lavish parties that have already
run into trouble with the Indian
authorities.
Hurley, 41, and Indian businessman Arun Nayar, 42, arrived with
about 240 guests and truckloads of
expensive Louis Vuitton luggage for
three days of entertainment.
They are taking over the desert
city’s hill-top Umaid Bhavan Palace for traditional Indian celebrations after a civil marriage at an
English castle and celebrations in
Mumbai.
Prison Break actor
staring at jail term?
Actor Lane Garrison, who played
an inmate on the hit TV show Prison
Break, was charged on Thursday
with vehicular manslaughter in a
car crash that killed a 17-year-old
boy and injured two girls.
Garrison, who was charged with
drunk driving, and giving alcohol
to a minor, could face more than six
years in prison if he is convicted.
The 26-year-old actor, whose
character David “Tweener” Apolskis
was killed on the popular Fox TV
drama this season, was ordered to
appear in court for an arraignment
later on Thursday. Prosecutors say
they will ask a judge to hold him on
a $200,000 bail.
Prosecutors say Garrison’s
blood-alcohol level was nearly twice
California’s legal limit when he
crashed his sport utility vehicle
into a tree in Beverly Hills, killing 17-year-old Vahagn Setian and
injuring two 15-year-old girls.
Garrison’s defense attorney has
said that Setian was a popular
student at Beverly Hills High School
who, along with the girls, recognized the actor at a supermarket
that night and invited him to a
party. Garrison and the
teens were heading to the
party when the accident
occurred.
Mamma Mia! ,
It’s Brosnan’s
turn to sing
Pierce Brosnan has
become the latest star to sign up
for the big-screen adaptation of hit
ABBA musical Mamma Mia! , local
media reported on Wednesday.
The Irish actor best known for
his portrayal of British super spy
007 in the James Bond films will
line up opposite two-time Oscar
winner Meryl Streep for the movie,
film industry tabloid Daily Variety
reported.
The film, which plays out to a
soundtrack of hit songs from the
Swedish super group of the 1970s
and 1980s, tells the
story of a young
woman trying to
find out the identity
of her father.
Brosnan, who
will play one of the
men summoned to
a Greek island by
the woman, told
Variety he had leapt
at the chance to star
alongside Streep, with whom he is
set to perform a duet.
Since its opening in London in
1999, Mamma Mia! has grossed
more than $2 billion in worldwide
ticket sales, making it one of the
most successful musicals of all time.
Agencies-China Daily
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