When the Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamas Al-Thani came on his official visit to Nepal on Tuesday, preparations were being made to give two elephants as a gift from Nepal.

The two elephants set to be gifted are the offspring of the wild elephant ‘Ronaldo’. Rudrakali, six years old, and Khagendra Prasad, five years old, were born and trained at the Elephant Breeding Centre at Sorsor in Sauraha. They are being offered to the Qatar government as gift under the “Conservation Policy”.

Manipuran Chaudhary, Chief of the Breeding Centre, informed that Rudrakali, born on October 9, 2018, to Pujakali, and Khagendra Prasad, born on September 25, 2019, to Koshikali, are both offspring of the wild elephant Ronaldo.

Nowadays, most of the baby elephants born in the breeding centre are offspring of wild elephants, he said. The male elephant kept in the breeding centre called Dhirendra was killed by a wild elephant in 2000, necessitating the breeding centre to rely on wild elephants for breeding purpose.

At the elephant breeding centre established in 1987, elephant births have been recorded since 1997. The majority of those born at the breeding centre are offspring of Ronaldo. There are also many descendants of Ronaldo in the wild, Chaudhary addedd reports The Rising Nepal.