New Delhi, Nov. 4 -- Delhi zoo's lone African elephant, Shankar (29), died of the encephalomyocarditis (EMCV) virus, which causes inflammation of the heart muscles, according to his postmortem report. The elephant had collapsed and died in his enclosure on September 17.

On September 20, the Delhi zoo had said that preliminary findings indicated Shankar died of "acute cardiac failure," with samples sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bareilly for confirmation. "The preliminary opinion after post-mortem was . death due to acute cardiac failure. The cause of acute heart failure is to be ascertained from lab reports from collected samples, which is awaited from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly," th...