Читать книгу Nature’s Babies - Mike Dilger - Страница 13

This largest of all living land animals really needs no introduction. With a huge set of ears, a long pair of tusks and a versatile trunk, the African bush elephant is probably the best known and the biggest of all three species of elephant and is also undisputed master of the African savanna.

Female African elephants spend their whole lives in social groups. These consist of the dominant female (matriarch), and an array of immediate family members including mothers, daughters, sisters and aunts. Adult males, on the other hand, lead either solitary lives, or live in loose ‘bachelor’ herds and only join the female unit when one of the herd is sexually receptive. Females ready to mate will seek out the biggest, strongest and oldest bull elephants: these will be the ones who have already asserted their prowess by fighting with and driving away any other potential suitors.

The elephant’s pregnancy is the longest in the natural world and lasts 22 months. At the end of this gestation period, the mother gives birth to a calf weighing up to 120kg (264 lb). The young elephant is born with very few survival instincts and must therefore rely on its elders to teach it everything it needs to know during a prolonged upbringing. All members of the tight-knit female group participate in the care and protection of the newborn calf and it quickly becomes the centre of attention. Since everyone is related, there is never a shortage of babysitters on hand to help, too!

© Martin Harvey/NHPA

Baby elephants are never short of willing playmates.