Regular foot massages, warm baths, rub downs and an exercise routine that includes aerobics and strength training are all part of the life of two very special pregnant ladies at the Melbourne Zoo.
Zoo authorities on Thursday confirmed that its 10-year-old Asian elephant Kulab is almost three months pregnant. She joins 16-year-old Dokkoon who is due to give birth towards the end of 2009.
No baby elephant has been born in Australia and it is rare for them to be born in captivity - so these mums-to-be are being carefully monitored and looked after during their pregnancies.
Kulab looks like she is loving the pregnant life as she takes a soak in the pool, playfully squirts water from her trunk and then enjoys a rub down from her trainer in the zoo's elephant enclosure.
It is early days for the mum-to-be as she has a 22-month wait before her baby arrives, she is expected to gain up to 500 kilograms before then and deliver a baby that could weigh more than 90 kilograms.
"She's doing great. She probably doesn't even realise she's pregnant, it's so early," Melbourne Zoo curator of exotic animals Jan Steele said.
The baby boom does not stop there, with Sydney's Taronga Zoo also expecting two baby elephants.
While the spotlight is on these pregnant mums, the only male who shares the enclosure with Melbourne Zoo's four female occupants can take a lot of credit for this baby bonus.
Bong Su is the donor in both pregnancies at Melbourne Zoo and also responsible for the pregnancy of Pontipp at Taronga Zoo.
The 35-year-old elephant is considered possibly the most fertile male Asian Elephant within the international zoo network and has a sperm count of up to 2.5 billion per millilitre.
A regular high fertile elephant produces about 800 to 900 million per millilitre.
The pregnancies are also a credit to the zoo's regional breeding program, Melbourne Zoo director Kevin Tanner said.
The zoo's elephant experts and veterinarians have worked on this project in partnership with the world-leading elephant reproductive specialists from Berlin Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.
But a conservation group claims Kulab is underage and should not have been forced to breed in captivity.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said the zoos were only interested in breeding elephants to bring people into look at them.
"The zoos have disguised this breeding program as part of a plan to save an endangered species and for some reason no one is questioning what benefit this will have for the species," Erica Martin, IFAW Asia Pacific Director said.
Ms Martin said conditions placed upon the zoos when the elephants were imported said breeding must only occur in accordance with an approved Captive Management Plan.
That plan stated elephants must be 11 years old before they breed.
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