Baby elephant Migara, a gift of friendship from Sri Lanka to China in February this year, celebrated his sixth birthday at the Beijing Zoo Saturday.

With a red ribbon on head, the male elephant received birthday wishes from both Chinese and Sri Lanka children, as well as delicious bananas from its raiser.

Some 50 pupils from a Beijing-based China-Sri Lanka friendship school gave performances at the party. They also sang birthday songs to Migara together with Sri Lanka children both in English and Chinese.

The three-layer birthday cake prepared by the zoo staff seemed to be the perfect present for Migara, who enjoyed it quite a lot.

Addressing the party, Sri Lankan Ambassador to China Karunatilaka Amunugama called Migara a symbol of friendship between the two countries, representing the love from Sri Lankan to Chinese.

"Migara has been very popular among children since its public debut in March," said Wu Zhaozheng, head of the Beijing Zoo, adding that Migara has got accustomed to the life here, gaining some weight now.

In order to get away his loneliness, a twelve-year-old female African elephant was arranged by the zoo to accompany Migara.

Migara was presented as gift by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to the Chinese people on Feb. 26 to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties of the two countries.

There are about 5,000 wild elephants in Sri Lanka, and about 200 in captivity, which are mainly used to celebrate festivals.

Migara is the third elephant "envoy" from Sri Lanka to China in the past 50 years, after a male baby elephant presented in 1972 and a female one in 1979.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2007)