Madhavi at the zoo and (inset) the calf she adopted last week. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Dec. 23: After a brush with infamy last week when two royal Bengal tigers ripped off an overly keen amateur photographer’s arm, Guwahati zoo has gone into overdrive to project a friendlier face.

If the zoo has Govardana and Divya — the two tigers who killed Jayprakash Bezbaruah — it also has Madhavi, an elephant that has played “surrogate mother” to at least six of the nine elephants in the zoo and “adopted” a seventh a few days ago.

Madhavi’s enclosure is just a few paces from that of Govardana and Divya.

Madhavi adopted an orphaned calf from Orang National Park a day after the tiger couple mauled Bezbaruah from inside their cage when he crossed the safety barrier to photograph them.

The divisional forest officer of the zoo, Narayan Mahanta, said Madhavi was not among the “prime attractions” despite her unique personality.

“But for Madhavi, many calves would have died. However, since people see elephants everywhere they are not the prime attractions.”

Madhavi was brought to the state zoo as a calf more than 25 years ago from Nonoi in Nagaon district. She had been wandering alone after being separated from her herd when forest guards found her.

Growing up at the zoo, Madhavi impressed everyone with her ability to “adjust” and soon became the favourite of the animal handlers. “We face no trouble with Madhavi. She follows instructions and seldom throws a tantrum,” a zookeeper said.

The surrogate mother is now busy mothering her youngest child, Chilarai.

Chilarai was born to a pair of trained elephants at Orang National Park. The year-old calf’s mother died on December 10, prompting the park management to send him to the zoo.

Mahanta said Madhavi would refuse food whenever zookeepers separated her from an adopted calf. A few months ago, she charged at the vehicle that was to take an injured calf to the wildlife care centre for treatment.

“She would not allow us to take the calf away. We had no option but to call the veterinary doctor to treat the calf in the elephant enclosure itself,” Mahanta said.

The calf died later.

The zoo management is looking for a male to pair with Madhavi so that she can have her own calf. But that will be only after she brings up Chilarai, Mahanta said.