Rajbir, who was seen playing with his mother the whole day, became the centre of attraction for the visitors, especially the children. The zoo authorities had made special arrangements to capture Rajbir’s movements through video recording.

Rajbir, the second baby elephant born at Chhatbir, was reunited with his mother, Hema, and father, Rajmangal, after a long time. Hema had first given birth to a female elephant in mid 2002, who was named Seema. But she died in 2005 due to a stomach ailment. Rajbir was born in 2007 and had been kept separately from the parents ever since.

Seema and Rajbir are the only two elephants to have been born in the zoo till date.

After Mysore, Chhatbir is the only zoo in India where elephant breeding is done. According to the zoo authorities, the breeding of elephants is often dangerous because the mother usually gets violent after delivery and it becomes very difficult to control her.

Chhatbir has a total of five elephants — four females and one male — at present. They are handled by five caretakers.