Bengaluru, Amid the Covid-19 gloom across the world, a 12-year-old elephant at the Bengaluru Zoo gave birth to a male calf, increasing the number of jumbos in the zoo to 24, an official said on Saturday.

"The Bengaluru Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBBP) or Bengaluru Zoo is happy to announce that an elephant named Roopa has given birth to a male calf. Both the mother and calf are doing well," said BBBP Executive Director Vanashree Vipin Singh.

Incidentally, this was the second time that Roopa became a mother. Earlier in December 2016, Roopa had given birth to a female calf named Gowri at the age of eight years.

Exactly a week ago, the zoo announced the good news of a hippopotamus giving birth to a calf.

The biological park has four units -- a zoo, a safari, a butterfly park and a rescue centre -- sprawling over 732 hectares of land and accommodating 2,279 animals.

The zoo is nestled in the forests of Champakadhama Hills inside the Bannerghatta National Park.