Possible new baby elephant in Melbourne
Melbourne Zoo keepers have their fingers crossed that Asian elephant Num-Oi has a bun in the oven, nine months after losing her calf in a tragic accident.
A leading artificial insemination expert was flown in from Germany to perform the procedure two months ago.
Melbourne Zoo's head vet Dr Michael Lynch said the results from the insemination would be known by November.
"We are very hopeful. But we are well aware that AI is not 100 per cent successful," Dr Lynch said on Friday.
"We are very much looking forward to the test results next month."
If the pregnancy is a success, it will be the second for Num Oi, who gave birth to a male calf, Sanook, in January last year.
In a tragic turn of events, the 11-month-old baby elephant died in an accident in December last year.
But with a gestation period of 22 months, it will be a long wait before the zoo welcomes the potential new calf.
Morning news break - October 3
