India elephants need maternity leave LUCKNOW, India (AP) - Northern India's Dudhwa National Park is facing a peculiar and severe staff shortage: Four of its eight working elephants are pregnant and owed maternity leave. "This will hit our operations," Dudhwa director Rupak De told The Associated Press Wednesday. Wildlife authorities in Uttar Pradesh, the state where Dudhwa is located, decided this year to allow park elephants to become mothers and relieve them from their duties carrying tourists and park employees during pregnancy and for a period after giving birth. De set maternity leave at the last year of pregnancy - an elephant's gestation period is 22-25 months - and for two years after birth. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2557637137-a96>
