Sydney, Mar 11 (THAINDIAN NEWS) This is really a miracle baby elephant, as it was believed to have died during an agonizing 9-day labor. However it is progressing along fine now, and is now also able to eat himself, and can stand also. After he learned to stand, he has been nicknamed as ‘Mr. Shuffles’. The zookeepers had thought that the calf has died, in the 9day labor that had started on the 1st of March. But all of them were astonished when a live calf was born 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 told reporters Thursday.

He also added that the calf might have turned in the reverse position, and reached a state of coma, which the zoo doctors might have interpreted as a case of death. However to the huge amazement and shock of all, he was born on Wednesday in the wee hours of the morning (3:27 am, to be precise.) He weighed 256 pounds when he was born to his 18-year-old mother Porntip. “This little calf has been through an incredibly tough time,” he said. “There is no record anywhere else in the world … of a labor that has gone this long. There is no recording of a calf being absolutely still for several days like this.”

Even though his vital signs are stable, and he is progressing fine, the zoo keepers still maintain a round-the-clock vigil on him, incase there are some more surprises for them in store.