From birth to childbearing
By Shila Shrestha
About 6,800 kilograms in weight themselves, the female elephants carry their young for 22 months. When ready to come out into the world, their babies can weigh on average 100 kilograms. Infant elephants are about three feet tall. They don’t need a hospital or other services to come out into the world. Their mothers give birth to them in a standing position. While human mothers carry their babies for nine months, elephants carry theirs for two years! That’s why their newborns are believed to be developed and capable.
I hear mothers discuss how hard it is to be pregnant, it is hard to be pregnant for everyone. Even though humans now have so many services, I think about elephants who have to carry their babies for two years mostly in the wild. They cannot get better food, they do not have doctors and midwives, they do not get the kind of advice human mothers do and special supplements like iron and calcium in the wild and probably 95% of cases even if they are domesticated. But in captivity, they get more care and love from their herd. As a young person, I think about animals who cannot say that they feel hurt or life is hard or feel sorry for themselves when they are pregnant and I appreciate them more.
Elephant newborns cannot stand up, to begin with. Perhaps this is because even as babies, they weigh upwards of 100 kilos. Once its mother or other adults help and it can stand. Elephants take care of each other so other female elephants also help out the mother if needed or even on their own. They are like a family, the females protect the mother giving birth, help the baby and wait for a couple of hours as the baby stands, feeds, and can walk and join the herd. Elephant babies drink their mother’s milk as all mammals do. They don’t eat other types of food for two years. After two years, they begin to eat plants.
The baby elephant has teeth! Like we do, the baby also loses its baby teeth and gets its permanent set. The tusks grow from the age of two by which time they are about 400 to 600 kilos in weight. When they are grown, Asian elephants may be 8 to 9 feet tall. At the age of ten to fifteen the females can have babies. While they grow big and can have babies by the age of ten, they take a long time to grow physically and emotionally. They continually grow until the age of 20. Males can continue to grow a bit longer.
Elephants are amazing animals. I hope the human race does not drive them to extinction.
Login to add a comment