Elephant Baby

At about 8 o’clock one superb morning, we located the elephants that we were looking for. The herd was spread out over quite a large area, all feeding on a fruitful aloe grove. A little way off, a huge uproar was heard from a little down the valley. Amidst the trumpeting and squealing, a vast dust plume emerged over the bushes. We drove around and found a group of about 8 female elephants in a little depression. One young female was pushing and chasing another older female and her calf. Every time she would be pushed away, she would move back only to be chased away again. This was intriguing behaviour and we wondered if we weren’t perhaps watching two different herds. When we looked closer, we spotted a wet, dark pile under the legs of a larger female in the midst of this group. Dennis, the tracker, pointed out that her back legs were bloody. We immediately came to the awesome realisation that the “pile” was in fact a new born elephant, and the young female obviously took her position as older sister very seriously and was protecting the newborn from any intrusion. After about 20 minutes, most of them moved a little way off, only 3 younger females staying with the mother and her new calf. It was great to watch the little one get up with the help of his mom and relatives. He wobbled around under all of them until he settled on his mom’s teats. After another 30 minutes or so, they helped him along out of the depression in the sand and ushered him along in the direction of the rest of the herd. Every 5 paces or so, he’d collapse, only to be edged up again. The new addition was spotted the following day quite a way from where we had seen him. He seemed to be doing fine, although still stumbling and seemingly at a loss for what to do with his legs and trunk.

Posted: South Africa Wildlife by Rowan Seagers, Date: 4 August 2010