Bébés de Trombas!

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org

The first young elephant orphans of Tsavo were “Samson”, a two year old baby bull orphaned during drought conditions in 1952 and “Fatuma”, a two year old baby female orphaned by poachers soon afterwards during the same year. There followed many others over the subsequent early years of David Sheldrick’s 30 years as Warden of Tsavo East National Park, but always only those orphaned either, just below, or at two years old and over, survived. The hand-rearing of a fully milk dependent infant elephant (i.e. under two years of age) was something that eluded the Sheldricks for 28 years for an infant elephant is milk dependent for at least the first two years of life, and those that survive in a wild situation without access to milk between the age of 2 and 5, are few. This has been established by the scientific monitoring of the Amboseli population for the past 30 years. The composition of the fat content of elephants’ milk is very different from that cows’ milk added to which evidence suggests the actual protein and fat composition of elephants’ milk varies during different stages of lactation to cater for the growing needs of a baby. This means that two years is a very long time to be reliant on an artificial substance that is not identical to mother’s milk, especially in view of the fact that Nature has made infant African elephants exceedingly fragile; they can be fine one day and dead the next and one can never be sure that a calf will survive until it is past its third birthday. The hand-rearing of orphaned elephants is an emotional roller-coaster for those involved, for tragedy stalks success and can strike unexpectedly at any moment. (www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org)