Editorial photo #10360230 Human Interest

World Elephant Day Is Marked In Sri Lanka.

Elephant Namal walks around the elephant transit home on August 12, 2023, in Elephant Transit Home. Elephant Namal was found in the Ampara Jungles in 2012, when he was just 1 year old. Wildlife officials found him exhausted and dying after he was caught in a hunter's snare and transported him to the Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home. Namal, named after ''Namal Uyana'', the area where he was found, is a fun-loving elephant who enjoys being around people. The elephant's spine is getting weaker as he does not have the support required from his left back leg to carry his increasing body weight. Today, with the assistance and support of several key personnel, including those trained in Australia, a prosthetic leg will be manufactured and fitted for the back leg of an elephant for the first time in recorded history. Namal will be the first known instance where an elephant receives a prosthetic back leg. (Photo by Thilina Kaluthotage/NurPhoto)