An elephant is born

Late on an afternoon game drive earlier this week, field guide Brett, tracker Rifos, and their guests were sitting by a dam wall, enjoying the general game that was out and about. Never could they have imagined what they were about to witness…

Brett shares the experience with us.

We saw some hippos and elephants playing quite far off in the distance. We noticed, through binoculars, that the elephant herd was huddled around one individual in particular, and that something was happening. I then saw movement in the grass, and suspected that one of the animals may be injured – or something along those lines.

We slowly made our way towards the herd to see if we could establish what was going on from a closer angle. We kept our distance and exercised respectful caution as we could see that the herd was distressed. We took another look through our binoculars, and it was then that we could clearly see that a female had just given birth! She was kicking around, and seemed very confused. She then moved off, leaving the calf completely on its own – very atypical behaviour for elephants. We remained in the open area at quite a distance, silently observing the baby grunting, moaning and calling because it was unable to get to its feet. After about 10 to 15 minutes, the mother returned to her calf, and started loudly vocalising – still confused. We suspect that this was her first calf, and this was obviously quite an overwhelming experience for her. She was trumpeting, running up and down, and not knowing exactly what to do with the new-born.  

Eventually she started nudging the baby with her feet, and almost went down to her knees to use her tusks to help push the calf onto its feet. But despite great time and effort, the baby continued to fall on its head, bum and side. It took around 30 minutes, but eventually mom managed to get baby up and beneath her belly, holding it up with her trunk to try and entice it to start suckling. The maternal instinct is profound…

We all sat in awed silence, incredulously observing the scene unfolding in front of us. After about an hour, the calf was still stumbling around but had started to get its balance. At this point, the whole herd slowly made its way back to the open area to come and greet this little one for the first time.

It was then that we chose to back off completely and leave them to their sacred and peaceful ‘meet and greet’. We didn’t want to put any unwarranted pressure on the herd, mother or baby.

This was a first for Rifos and I – we are so blessed that the elephants gave us the opportunity to observe from a distance. This has definitely been one of the highlights of our careers!

We have not seen the herd since, but as it has a few unique and distinctive individuals, we will recognise them. We hope to see the new baby soon, and will be sure to keep you updated!

Until next time,

Brett