If you are using social media like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., you probably have seen some cute videos of a baby elephant playing around. People watch these cute videos because it is satisfying and fun to watch. But with so much cuteness, they have lots of mysteries. Today we will find some interesting facts about baby elephants.
Elephants are exciting animals. Their size was impressive, and their strength was extraordinary even when they were just born. They are intelligent and loving creatures. Surprisingly, despite their large size, they could walk silently without being noticed.
Elephants are the largest land animals. If we look at the data, currently only two species of elephants survive, Elephas and Loxodonta. Apart from them, other Mammathus species have become extinct. The alif species are found in Africa and Loxodonta in India.
How much does a baby elephant weigh
Average weight of an elephant – At birth, African elephants are about 90 cm in size. After the baby elephant is born, it immediately stands up, but it is too small to reach its mother’s breast. During the first few weeks, the mother passes the trunk under the baby’s stomach to lift it. Then it climbs to the end of its claws to suck. Newborn baby elephants drink 11 liters of milk per day. She breastfeeds her baby for two years while consuming more plants. Elephants are the massive land animals in the world. Usually, it weighs up to 10 thousand kg. Some big elephant can weigh up to 32,000 kg.
Height
Baby elephant height – Elephants are included in the pachyderms family, which is a species of mammal that has thick skin. But they also stand out for their long trunk and the two tusks they have.
Elephants are the largest land mammals, reaching more than 2 meters in height. Depending on the type of elephant, it reaches different heights.
African elephants can measure 3’3 meters high and between 5’5 and 6 meters long.
If you compare both elephants, you will find out the Asian elephants are slightly smaller than the African elephant, measuring about 2.5 meters in height and up to 4.5 or 5 meters in length.
Newborn elephants are usually one meter high and one and a half meters long.
Baby elephant name
Animal names were different for them when they were children. For example, a cat is called a kitten, and a bear is called cubs. One of Asian and African elephants’ basic facts is that when elephants are babies, they are called calves. Yes the baby elephant called calf.
They outgrow the name of calves when they become teenagers. It depends on their gender and what their name is. The female elephant is called a cow, and the male elephant is called a bull. You can see how all the names are related to each other.
mother and baby elephant
All Calves are cared for by their mothers. Still, because of the herd’s matriarchal structure, mother elephants or pregnant elephants can also participate in the care and maintenance of calves, regardless of whether they are directly calves or not.
At birth, a group of female elephants can wait for the parent to give birth to complete the delivery to welcome the newborn. Once the baby is born, the female elephants greet him with loud rustles and voices for its arrival.
The participation of young female elephants, accompanying the mother, raising and caring for their younger siblings, provides essential preparation. Once the time for breeding and giving birth has arrived, they can do well.
survival instinct
Indeed elephants are intelligent creatures. However, when they are born, they don’t have have much survival instincts like other animals. They rely on their mothers to survive like humans.
Baby brain development
The brains of many animals do not need to develop at birth for a long time. Elephants are more like humans.
After birth, they begin to absorb social factors and norms, such as sponges. Therefore, it is an essential step for them. They learn a lot about the appropriate behaviors and skills needed to live up to the standards of their calves.
It compares with different cultures. They have different values for reproduction and happy development. It sets standards and ethical principles.
Differences according to sex
Interestingly, male and female elephant babies are raised differently.
In this sense, the mother can be found interacting in certain ways, depending on the sex of the offspring.
The substantial difference is that females tend to breastfeed less while breastfeeding, but at the same time, they stay with their mother longer than males. These, in turn, branch out into singles during adolescence, while females mostly follow the main flock until they become adults and even death.
Habits
Like newborns, baby elephants spend most of their time eating, sleeping, or traveling with their mothers. They can do this up to the age of five, although the trend may change slightly.
They are breastfed exclusively for the first three months; from there, they can, without ceasing to depend on breast milk, nourish the plants.
As already mentioned, they can be weaned at any time between the ages of 5 and 10. When that happens, they enter the juvenile phase, a joyful time when the elephant establishes its identity and creates a social place. Alone in the peloton.
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How are baby elephants born?
A baby elephant’s birth will begin at the end of the female’s gestation period (22 months). The delivery is carried out quickly. Most of the female stands up, the baby starts to come out of the mother’s womb, and she falls to the ground.
The mother came to pat her with her claws to understand that she had to move and stand up.
The herd members immediately form a circle around their young and provide trumpets to protect them and thereby scare off potential predators.
After a while, the elephant stood up and began to take the first steps in its life, while still surrounded by the herd protecting it.