This baby elephant is the darling of zookeepers at Assam State Zoo.

Its mother was killed by a train recently on a section of track which passes through lush forest.

The zookeepers are feeding the calf and taking great care to keep it healthy.

A team of vets keep watch on the calf's health round the clock.

[Narayan Mahanta, Divisional Forest Officer, Assam Zoo]:
"Basically it is dehydration and infection; if we can protect the animal from these two initially then, perhaps, there can be no problem. We have taken the challenges, we have experienced veterinarians and we have experienced animal keepers, mahouts, all are taking care of the animal and till now everything is (going) in right direction; there is not much problem."

Many elephants and wild animals have been hit by trains on this same stretch of railway track.

A national census in 2005 showed there were between 25 and 28-thousand elephants in India.