By Sophie Wasserman
We are so excited to share that on March 3rd the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation welcomed their newest elephant into the world!
We are so excited to share that on March 3rd the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation welcomed their newest elephant into the world!
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| Sahm, a few hours old Photo: Rebecca Shoer |
Nicknamed Sahm (Thai for “three” since he was born on the third day
of the third month), the healthy baby boy was estimated to weigh in at a hefty
200 lbs (90 kg), on the larger end of the normal range of 70-100 kgs for
newborns. Though elephants typically give birth during the night, Sahm was born
at approximately 11:15 AM and within a few hours was walking about and
attempting to nurse (it took him a few tries to get it right). Like most
ungulates, a baby elephant is called a calf and Sahm will probably continue to
nurse from his mother for another 2-3 years, though in the wild some calves
aren’t weaned until age 5.
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| Sahm nursing from his mother |
Mother Boonjan arrived pregnant to GTAEF in 2013 and has
been on maternity leave since last fall, spending the last months of her almost
2 years of pregnancy relaxing in the grasslands. Sahm is her fifth calf and
also fifth son. Females usually only give birth to 4-5 calves throughout their
lifetime, almost always one at a time, though there have been rare cases of
twins.
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| Sahm, a week old, and mother Boonjan Photo: Rebecca Shoer |
Sahm’s older brother Somjai also lives in the GTAEF camp, where he
continues to excel at our research tasks, so we have high hopes for his new
baby brother. Like most very intelligent species, elephant calves are born with
only a fraction (about 35-50%) of their adult brain weight. Although Sahm may
be able to nurse by instinct, he still has a lot to learn about being an
elephant by observing his mother and other elephants as well as his own trial
and error throughout the first ten years of his life.
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| Photo: Rebecca Shoer |
At a week old, Sahm is still a little shaky on his feet and
hasn’t quite mastered stepping over, rather than on, his own trunk. His control
improves every day, and by the end of the first month he should be able to pick
up and hold objects with his tiny trunk. He won’t be able to use it to hold
water, however, until a few months down the road. Sahm is reluctant to stray
far from the safety of his mother’s legs and Boonjan is even more hesitant to
let him go, gently but firmly herding him close with her trunk. In the wild,
calves are the center of herd attention and are taken care of not only by their
mother, but also older sisters, cousins and aunts, a behavior known as
alloparenting.
I'll probably never know just what it is about elephants..but I love them..every one.
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