In March this year we were at Addo Elephant National Park. I wrote about elephants-miss-otis-and-armstrong-fence and warthogs and vervet-monkeys and cycad-trail-in-Zuurberg and spekboom-jade-plant.
I left a query at SANParks forums. Anyone know when these twin-baby-elephants were born? Their names?
Now I have had an answer from the Park. Probably not twins as there has been a drought, and the mother would not be able to feed two babies. So they are likely just good friends, who are growing up together.
Its quite unlikely that these two baby elephants are twins considering the drought in the Addo area. The prolonged drought means that there is less vegetation and poorer quality vegetation available to elephants and this affects their condition. The elephant population growth rate has decreased and there has been an increase in the number of miscarriages because of the poor condition of the female elephants. For twins to survive more than one or two months after birth usually requires the mother elephant to be in excellent condition with access to enough vegetation and water to produce enough milk for two babies.
These two elephant babies could be just associating and playing together. However, there is a chance they could be twins although this has not been confirmed by our rangers or researchers.
PS There was rain on 9 June!
Megan Taplin
Communications Manager: Frontier Region
These two elephant babies could be just associating and playing together. However, there is a chance they could be twins although this has not been confirmed by our rangers or researchers.
PS There was rain on 9 June!
Megan Taplin
Communications Manager: Frontier Region
We walked down to the waterhole at the bird-hide (think elephant fence, with an elevated platform to climb up to, and a maze of paths, ending, eventually at an Asterix and Obelix style barricade. Then viewing slits and rustic benches) Met some birders – I said we haven’t seen many birds? She told me they have had a long, bad drought, and there are not many birds about. But we did see a jackal at this waterhole. That is all.
As this little fellow says – If you two thugs are starting to sling mud, I am out of here!
There are links to webcams and the Ungardener is an enthusiastic user of the forums, as he plans our next holiday. When is the best time to go to …? Which cabin shall we ask for? What can you see? What can you do?
PS There is a poll up on my sidebar for June.
Thank you for voting.
So far, 16/23 found me at Blotanical,
3 via another blog.
11 use their own short-cut,
8 use Blotanical, to get here.
16 choose bling-bling,
and only 3 speed-read, like me!
Pictures by Jurg and Diana, words by Diana of Elephant's Eye
14 comments:
Dear Diana of EE, I am utterly enchanted and captivated by this posting with its informative, if somewhat worrying, message and its superb photographs. It remains incredible to me that you are able to see wildlife, such as these adorable baby elephants, outside of a zoo and in natural surroundings. Absolutely wonderful.
Thank you so much for your comment on my latest posting and to which I have made reply.
Very interesting post, thank you for sharing the additional information on the baby elephants!:)
How lovely to arrive for an update. I really enjoyed seeing the little one march off in a huff. Good it has a friend.
You wanted to see my garden in photos, not just drawings. There's a new place to do just that. Here's a link
http://esthersgardennotes.blogspot.com/
Esther
Twins, or best friends, I think those two little elephants are adorable regardless!
I like that they may be just best friends. I love hearing about the social connections between elephants :-)
I remember your original post about these cuties. Thanks for the update. I guess they don't have names ... or did I miss that? Sorry about the drought.
Pam - 'probably not twins' so they didn't get names. A few years back, there were twins, With Names. We'll ask the Ungardener and get back to you ...
Soooooo cute. I'm so glad they are friends and companions. I hope that stays into their adulthood, but they know the dynamics of an elephant herd better than I do. I hope the area gets some rain soon!
Oh goodness I LOVE elephants. I've only seen them in our zoo of course but it isn't a really really bad story - these ones are rescued from circus' and get moisturiser messages, foot rubs and have classical music played at night.
However these darlings are gorgeous, oh how great to see them in their home and being freinds. Makes me all giggly.
Meredith - I tucked in a yellow PS - rained on 9 June!
Carrie - giggling ;-))
I wish you (and the Elephants...and all the other hungry creatures) steady rain and an end to the drought. Ours (touch wood) seems to be coming to an end this winter, lets hope yours does too. Heidi.
Yippee! Elephants! And the babies are so fun to watch. You get a sense of these animals and how intelligent they are just from watching how the babies and how the mother looks after it.
I have heard that elephants can have very deep social connections. They might adopt babies and they even mourn their dead. Awesome creatures.
Great pictures! As for how I read the blog, well, I usually start with Blotanical, and then I want to comment and change to the "real" view of the blog ;->
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