minimunchkin: New Life

Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would see this, a newborn baby elephant’s first steps. When we got there, we’d missed the birth, Mum was already on her feet but we could still see her placenta hanging out. We looked down and there he was, bubs lying on the ground. He wasn’t small by our measure of babies but he looked absolutely tiny next to his mother. Mum was using her trunk and her legs to nudge the little guy, trying to get him up on his feet. Here he was, this little newborn no more than an hour old having to get up and walk. We stayed and watched them for close to an hour and soon he was up, his little jelly legs barely able to hold up his body. Once he was up there was no stopping him. Being there when he took his first steps was just incredible. He kept falling over but each time he would pick himself up and keep trying. Mum was always there to help him. Priorities are different her in the wild. We kept expecting mum to nurse him but her main focus was getting him to walk so that they could move with the herd, away from the site of the birth where the smell of blood would attract predators. And when she removed her placenta, she used her legs to dig up dirt and bury it. During the birth, the rest of the herd had moved away to graze nearby but once baby was up on his feet, one by one they came over to greet him, a little pat with their trunks, a muzzle with their heads. It was fascinating watching them, they’re not so dissimilar to a human family.

We stayed there until they moved away, and even then the kids didn’t want to leave. But after lunch we found them again, on the other side of the park. This little guy must have walked over 20 kilometres on his first day, and there were still many more hours to come before nightfall. As we continued watching them, Ben kept telling us how lucky we are to witness this. He’s been guiding here for five years and this is the first time he’s seen the birth of a baby elephant. Over the radio, other guides were all talking, some of them have been guiding for over 30, 40 years and they’ve never seen this before. Well, I’m sure today will definitely be a day that none of us will forget. We couldn’t quite agree on what to name the little guy, baby Ryan or baby Shad!

Wobbly legs. Getting up for the first time.

Several tries later... finally bubs is up on all fours in tent position 🙂. No rest for poor mum. Her placenta was still hanging out, later we saw her stepping on it with one foot and pulling it out.

Still very unsteady, needing mum’s helping trunk.

Finally on his own four feet!

Mum and her tiny mini-me 💛

Survival in the wild. It was much more important for the little guy to get up and start walking. We didn’t see mum nursing him until several hours later.