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Tusks are part of an elephants set of teeth, like an over-sized incisor, but some of the boys like to use them as a weapon as well. When they start protruding after the age of about 2 years then some of the boys start to feel like they are real bulls and sometimes start to bully some of their friends. Pare is a good example as a few months ago he was such a polite and calm boy and now he has sharp little tusks he uses to push some of the young bulls around. Lasayen used to bully him awhile back but today he was playing with Maramoja when Pare just came over and pushed him! Before he could poke his tusks into his back, Lasayen dodged him, and shouted loudly. Maramoja was not happy with Pare’s behaviour and she drove him away from the herd to save Lasayen. Little babies will sometimes try to throw their weight around and be bossy; especially when they know there is someone around protect them! Enkesha is a sweet little girl that understands the little babies very well. Today Sattao kept trying to push her and keep her from accessing the water trough whilst they were at mud bath, but she understood that he is just a little one and being bolshie; he did the same to Malima and she reacted in much the same way; just ignoring him!

Today the young girls, Godoma, Malkia, Tagwa and Esampu, were fighting over who should get to baby sit Musiara. Malkia did not want anyone to browse with him except Mbegu. Esampu, Tagwa and Kuishi were driven away but Godoma she just blocked from getting close to him; she knows her position in the hierarchy of the herd and would not challenger her. Murit was a bit naughty during the public visit today and was in a very strange mood as he kept trying to bite his friends tails! He moved from one to the other but kept trying to bite Malima and Enkesha and it reached a point where Godoma had to intervene and block him from approaching any others. Esampu also tried to snatch Tamiyoi’s milk bottle which annoyed the short little girl and she left her milk bottle for awhile to sort Esampu out, before returning to finish the rest. As the Head Keeper gave his talk during this visit, Jotto was busy trying to find where the voice was coming out of the strange looking speakers. He kept inspecting and trying to pick it up so the keepers had to move it as he was so interested. All the orphans from the baby Musiara to the matriarch Mbegu enjoyed a lengthy mud bath today, all except for Kauro who does not really enjoy them, no matter how hot it is!

We can see that Sattao is becoming a little boy that likes to climb on things and he is always trying to climb on Musiara’s back whenever he finds him lying down. This morning Musiara was all alone and rolling in the soil when Sattao spotted him and came running over to climb on him. Ngilai was feeding in the bushes nearby and saw Musiara struggling to get up so he came over and helped nudge the baby Sattao away, to assist Musiara. Musiara got to his feet and was prepared to fight Sattao because he was annoyed, but Ngilai intervened and made sure a fight did not ensue. He kept initiating games to keep the atmosphere light and rolled on the ground so the two boys could bump and slide on him instead. They did not play for long before Mbegu came over as she was slightly concerned due to the fact Ngilai can be quite a rough boy. This time he was being very calm and gentle with them though. Enkesha is one orphan that can lead and escort others even when there is no keeper to lead the way. She always knows where to go and what to do whilst others like Jotto, Ambo, Malima, Kuishi and Tagwa cannot really do the same; they always need a keeper to help direct them, or someone else in the group. What started off as a dull mud bath today soon got more exciting as Jotto read the mood and decided to make it more fun. He tested the temperature of the mud with his trunk before jumping in and running up and down and playing with a football. Esampu joined him and Malima did not want to be left out of the fun either – within no time everyone was having fun in the mud and after they went to dry themselves on the soil piles. As Enkesha was rolling on the soil Jotto came over and started lying on her and she started screaming. The keepers ran over to help her as Godoma charged over to discipline Jotto.

Godoma consistently shows a strong maternal nature these days especially with the younger baby elephants, and as a result is very well behaved during the public visiting time as she likes to watch the goings on. Today during the public visit after the first group had finished their milk, some were jostling over access to the water at the small troughs whilst others played on the piles of red, loose soil. The playfulness of Malima, Tamiyoi, Jotto, Ambo and Enkesha on the soil attracted the attention of the two little boys, Musiara and Sattao. They ran and joined in the games on the soil, with Godoma standing to the side and watching. Everyone watched as Godoma got down on her knees to help support Musiara when he failed to get up on his own. He used her side to support him and she held him with her trunk as well so eventually he managed to get up and we were all left thinking what a wonderful matriarch Godoma might be in the future.

Lately we have been hosting big crowds during the 11am visiting hour due to the high season. To keep the babies calm and settled close to the crowds, the babies have been getting “special treats” like lucerne pellets that they love very much. Some of them are obsessed with the pellets, mainly Tamiyoi, Ndotto, Malima, Mbegu, Mundusi and Murit, and are getting very greedy, refusing to share with the others. Tamiyoi, who is usually a sweet and gentle elephant, changes into a naughty greedy girl around the lucerne pellet handouts. Today she was misbehaving by bullying anyone who tried to stretch their trunk to her and the pellets, with Enkesha and Malima being her primary targets. Eventually, Murit, who is a very disciplined boy, couldn’t tolerate her bad behavior anymore and punished her by making sure she didn’t get any more pellets. Whenever she moved to a different pile of pellets, he was beside her and pushed her away. Enkesha is particularly fond of the keepers during the lucerne handouts and any keeper with pellets in hand is her best friend. However, if they stop hand feeding her she starts screaming and yelling for more and then moves to the next keeper. The naughty bully girl Mteto was in a bad mood today and during the 3pm feeding and private visiting hour she went around head-butting all the other orphans at any given opportunity. At one point, Kuishi was drinking water from the mud bath and as she stood by the edge, Mteto sneaked up behind her and gave her a powerful head-butt sending her rolling several times into the water. Kuishi shouted and Godoma ran over to help and got into the mud bath to help lift her up. Mteto, knowing she would be disciplined, ran away from the scene.

Early in the morning, Tamiyoi and Malima came out of their stockades earlier than the others and engaged in a pushing game in front of Jotto’s stable. Jotto’s stable is close to Maxwell’s stockade and on hearing the commotion, Max got up, came over and started head-butting his gate as he wanted to join in the game. Jotto and Ambo finally came out of their stockade and stood by watching the two girls wrestling, but Max continued head-butting his gate to try and entice them into a game. Eventually, the two boys decided to engage him in a running game and they ran up and down Max’s stockade with him following suit on the other side. These games were brought to a halt when the other orphans started coming out of their stockade, flooding the compound and eventually heading out to the forest one by one. There was another incident this morning, which started with naughty girl Mteto. Quiet little Tagwa was feeding all alone when Mteto pushed her to the ground. Murit saw this and immediately disciplined Mteto and chased her away. Ndotto, saw Murit chasing Mteto and thought he was being a bully and went to discipline him. Luckily, Kauro, who must have seen the whole incident, stepped in to stop Ndotto and clear the air by pushing Mteto away. Sneaky girl Ndiwa, lured Enkesha, Sana Sana and Mundusi away from the herd as the keepers were rounding the orphans up to take them back to the stockades for their 5pm feeding. They snuck through the mud bath area and came into the stockades behind the foster parents who were waiting for the orphans to arrive. They gave the foster parents quite a scare as Enkesha yelled for a way through, scattering people in different directions as the four ran into their respective stockades.

The new orphan from Tsavo West was originally fighting and very stressed but settled overnight with the help of Enkesha. With all the noise from next door, Enkesha became suspicious and unsettled, and walked all over the room putting her trunk between the bars to comfort the little one. As soon as their trunks touched, the new orphan became calm as if Enkesha was communicating to him that everything was okay. He then lay down to sleep and Enkesha moved her mattress next to the wall separating the two stockades so she could sleep next to him. It was extra cold this morning and Musiara and Sattao needed extra blankets to keep them warm out in the bush. When Kauro is in his playful mood his two favourite orphans to play with are Ndotto and Mbegu. Today he was in a really playful mood and he engaged Ndotto in wrestling games for much of the day.

Right after the 9am milk feed, Maktao came out to join the rest in the forest. One good thing is that he is very hooked on his keepers. The keepers have taken advantage of this as it helps them control his strange behavior around water. To keep him from heading straight to all the others water troughs, the keepers open his doors and run towards the forest, he instantly follows them and only stops when they stop. This morning, when he joined the others, he was surrounded by Mbegu, Kuishi, Malkia, Maramoja and Esampu. However, he decided to mount Enkesha’s head and even when Mbegu tried to stop him and pull him down, he kept on doing it. Malima was standing close by and soon Maktao started doing the same to her. None of the girls pushed or charged him, understanding he is still very little and learning, but when he started mounting Sattao, Musiara jumped in and pushed him to the ground. Today was full of games for all the orphans. Ndotto played his favourite wrestling game with big boy Kauro. Kauro was always one of the biggest baby bulls and Ndotto was the smallest orphan we have ever had at the nursery. It is wonderful to see the littlest bull now compete with the biggest bull so competently. Kuishi engaged Luggard in a pushing game but Luggard was playing too rough and poked her with his little tusks. Pare got into trouble when he pushed Maramoja from behind; he only wanted to play but he caught her off guard and she chased him away. Malima decided to play with Musiara and Sattao’s blankets that were hung on a tree when it became warm. She knocked them to the ground, threw them up and down and then did head stands on them. Godoma has gotten into the habit of kicking her peers with her hind legs but today she was punished for it by Murit who chased her and poked her with his tusks when he had enough. Jotto, Malima and Tamiyoi raced to see who could get to the milk first; Jotto was leading but just as they got to the finish line, Tamiyoi came from behind and overtook them all. Malima came in second and Jotto finished in last place.

It was a very cold morning today and all the orphans were quite chilly, and their keepers too! All the little ones like Musiara, Sattao, Malkia, Malima, Tamiyoi, Ambo, Enkesha and even Luggard wore thick double blankets to keep warm. Whilst out in the forest we watched all the orphans browse next to each other to keep warm and the smallest ones were very much attached to the sides of those bigger than them, staying tight to the middle of the group. Big boys like Kauro, Ndotto, Pare, Lasayen, Rapa, Murit and Mundusi decided to engage each other in pushing and wrestling games to keep themselves warm, especially when it started drizzling lightly and became even colder! During the public visiting time none of the orphans even dared to even test the water in the mud bath since they knew it would be cold and they would certainly be cold when they came out after. The majority of the orphans decided to dust themselves in the piles of red soil that had been placed there for them instead.

During the public visit, Enkesha and Jotto were busy challenging each other by shoving, pushing and head butting each other. Their struggle was over who would claim victory over a heap of lucerne pellets that had been placed for them there. Neither one was ready to surrender the pile, so they resorted to all sorts of acts against each other. As Jotto failed to move Enkesha away from the pile, he tried pulling her tail to which she resorted to sitting down right on top of the pellets! Jotto then tried to push her off but Enkesha then lay down on them, leaving Jotto with no other option than to walk away at which point, Enkesha got onto her knees and started to feed on the lucerne. It was funny to watch because as soon as she saw Jotto walk towards the pile she lay down again to avoid him having any!