Tests reveal calf’s demise
Baby elephant died because it couldn’t absorb nutrients, lab confirms
The pathology report on the death Aug. 30 of a 3-month-old African elephant at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium confirmed the condition that zoo officials believed led to her demise — an inability to absorb nutrients.
It also opened the door for research on viral causes, because lesions associated with the in absorption condition could be caused by a virus.
“We weren’t aware of any such viral infection in elephants,” zoo CEO Barbara Baker said Tuesday. “We are sending samples [of the baby’s fecal matter] to see if they can find any viruses in that tissue.”
That detail will help zoo officials and keepers be alert to similar conditions if another elephant gives birth to a baby that fails to gain weight. They then will check its fecal matter for a virus, she said.
The report came back days ago from a lab in Washington state that examined the cells of tissue samples the zoo sent after completing a necropsy on the calf. A necropsy is similar to an autopsy for humans.
The diagnosis of chronic enterocolitis described the condition in association with abrasions and a shortening of the villi that live in the intestine to absorb nutrients. The villi form a tendril-like curtain around the intestine walls. When they are blunted, which was the case in the baby elephant, they aren’t at full strength to absorb nutrients.
The baby was born May 31, a month early, at the zoo’s International Conservation Center in Somerset County. When she was found hours later by keepers, she was dehydrated and exhausted 10 feet from her mother, Seeni.
She weighed 184 pounds, compared with the 200-plus pounds of thriving elephant calves. The fact that she was teething at the time complicated her situation. This baby and Seeni’s previous offspring both were born prematurely.
The Post-Gazette featured the fetching little pachyderm in a story in July when her survival was uncertain as she failed to gain weight.
Elephant program manager
Willie Theison said at the time that he believed Seeni was trying to get the baby to her feet, but because the baby didn’t muster her own forces, Seeni’s trunk kept pushing it farther away.
Seeni failed subsequently to produce milk, leading Dr. Baker to believe that a hormone supplement may be necessary for Seeni to deliver a healthy calf.
Zookeepers and Dr. Baker sat round the clock in the elephant barn to keep an eye on the new calf. Popular public viewings were curtailed.
“We were doing all the things that were recommended: probiotics, fluids, vitamins, lactase, the whole nine yards,” Dr. Baker said.
The pathology report’s last line — “In other mammals, this lesion is something associated with viral infections” — is a valuable bit of information that Dr. Baker said “gives us a place to start” in future screenings and more information to share with research partners around the world.
“It is comforting to know that there was something, a final conclusion,” Dr. Baker said.