Is there anything cuter than seeing a newborn baby? Their big eyes, tiny size, and wobbly legs as they walk toward their mama, at least if the newborn in question is a baby elephant. Like many other species in the animal kingdom, baby elephants are able to walk almost immediately after they are born, and it’s adorable to see them in action. Instagram user @herbivorekingdom shared a video of a newborn elephant figuring out the world for the first time, with its mom right by its side to help out. Talk about cuteness overload!
Lending a Trunk
Mother elephants may nudge or guide their calves to help them stand for the first time, but calves are generally able to stand on their own within minutes of birth.
©iStock.com/abadonian
The baby elephant, which is called a calf, appears to try to stand up in the precious video. The calf’s four legs are spread out a little too far to be sturdy, so the mother elephant tries to help her baby stand. She gently stabilizes her baby with her foot and then slides her long trunk under the calf’s belly. Using her trunk, she lifts the calf into a more stable standing position. For elephants, lending a trunk is much more effective than lending a hand.
At one point in the short clip, the baby elephant’s shaky legs cause him to collapse to the ground. Luckily, his mom is still right there, and she swings her trunk to the other side to help the baby get up again. In the second video, another baby elephant is shown lying on its side, covered with bits of straw. The calf’s eyes are open wide, and if we didn’t know better, we might think this little cutie is in danger. However, it seems the baby is simply playing or taking a nap in a cozy spot.
For people in the comment section, it was practically love at first sight. “Omg my heart. Little angels,” one person wrote. Another person said, “Momma knows how hard it is. Leaving the safe place after almost two years.
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Someone else summed up the cute videos: “This is pure love!
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Big Babies
Elephant calves are usually fully weaned from their mother’s milk between 2 and 5 years old.
©Dietmar Rauscher/Shutterstock.com
There’s no information about the exact age of the elephants in the Instagram videos above, but our best guess is that these calves were just born—even though they already look like little toddlers. Baby elephants weigh approximately 200-300 pounds when they are born and stand at about 3 feet tall. (Imagine going through labor with a baby that big!) The calves gain about 2 pounds a day until they reach their full-grown weight, which can be as much as 15,000 pounds. It makes sense that elephant babies are born this big, though, because their mamas are pregnant with them for just under two years. With a 22-month gestation period, elephants have the longest pregnancy of any mammal on Earth.
These Feet Were Made for Walking
Elephants can walk after being born to help with their survival.
©iStock.com/marco giovanelli
Another unique fact about baby elephants? They are born with a fully developed brain. Because of this, a baby elephant can stand up and walk within an hour after being born, although it may be wobbly like a deer fawn or a horse foal. That’s pretty awesome! It’s not just a fun trait, though. A baby elephant’s ability to walk after being born is a protection mechanism. After giving birth, a mother elephant sheds a significant amount of blood, which can attract predators. The ability of the herd to get up and move immediately afterward helps keep the elephants safe, according to Save the Elephants.
How Elephant Babies Are Like Human Babies
Even though baby elephants are more advanced than baby humans right after being born, there are a few cute traits they share. For example, calves will suck their trunks to soothe themselves and strengthen their trunk muscles, much like human babies will suck on a thumb or a pacifier. After about one year, baby elephants will also lose their first set of tusks, similar to how human babies lose their baby teeth.
Herd Protection
Elephant herds are mostly made up of female elephants and their young.
©adogslifephoto/iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images
Even though baby elephants are quite large by human standards, they are still considered small and vulnerable to predators. That’s why the entire herd will protect them as they travel. Adult elephants will form a protective ring around the elephant calves if they sense a predator, facing outward to warn off danger. Female elephants will act as caretakers for the group, while the fathers play almost no role in raising the young.
Elephants generally reach full maturity between 10 and 17 years old, depending on the species. It takes this long for them to fully develop coordination, social skills, and reach sexual maturity. However, it takes a few years before the baby elephant is fully weaned from its mother’s milk, and around the same time, it won’t need to be in the center of the herd anymore. Young females will typically stay with the herd for their entire lives, while young males, usually between the ages of 12 and 15, leave the herd to live more solitary lives or join bachelor groups.
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