Royal diet for Dasara elephants at Mysore Palace
2 min read
Mysuru: The first batch of nine Dasara elephants, are treated to a royal diet in Mysuru for the upcoming grand Dasara celebrations.
Abhimanyu, the Howdah elephant, along with eight other elephants Dhananjaya, Gopi, Bhima, Ekalavya, Kanjan, Rohith, Varalakshmi and Lakshmi, are housed at the Mysore Palace premises.
They have started practicing their daily walks covering a distance of 10 km up to Torchlight Parade Ground in Bannimantap (since Wednesday evening) and back to the Palace, with the Forest Department officials and Police escorting them.
The Police barricade the stretch of road, where the elephants pass through for a while to avoid elephants from getting panicky due to the honking of vehicles.
With the elephants weights having been checked, they have been put on a special protein-rich diet. The diet consists of boiled grains, wheat, horse gram, black gram and both raw and cooked vegetables, amounting to approximately 600 to 750 kg daily for the male elephants, and 450 to 500 kg for female elephants. When compared to female elephants, the male elephants are fed 10 percent more food, including the leaves of banyan and peepul trees.
A temporary kitchen attached to the elephant camp at Palace premises is where large nutritious balls are prepared daily for the elephants to cater to their appetite.
The mahouts and kavadis actively take part in preparing the food and feed their respective elephants, like how they treat their family members.
DCF (Wildlife) Mysuru Division Dr I B Prabhugowda and veterinarian Dr Muzeeb-Ur- Rehman supervised quality of the food aimed at boosting the elephants’ strength and maintain their hygiene, with the thrust on strengthening the density of their bones.
Like how we have a sumptuous meal on the festive occasions like Dasara, we are providing tasty and nutritious diet to Dasara elephants too, said DCF Prabhugowda.
“All nine elephants of the first batch are in good condition and are engaged in their routine walking practice. We have also introduced a healthy diet for them, including butter, multi-grains, jaggery, coconut and a mix of raw and cooked vegetables,” said DCF Prabhugowda.
– Team Mysoorunews
Mysooru News
