Our newest rescue, Arthi, is finding his place at the Nursery. The uncertain little bull who arrived in August has been replaced by a friendly, outgoing elephant who has really bonded with his Keepers. During feeding times, he confidently leads the herd, gulps down his bottle — dribbling drops on the ground — and demands another!
Arthi is also our new vocalist. It seems to be a rule of nature that when a noisy orphan leaves our Nursery herd, another emerges to take their place. Weka, our former vocalist, just graduated and now we have a new shouty elephant — Arthi! He loves yelling for his milk, by day or by night. During the nights, we hear him calling while we are preparing the milk. He serves as an alarm clock to the others that their bottles are ready.
The month began with some snack-stealing hijinks. After the orphans settled into their rooms for the night, neighbours Taroha and Nyambeni began pinching Kamili's greens in a two-pronged operation. Nyambeni stretched her trunk through the gaps to twist up a bunch. When Kamili turned to defend her greens, Taroha stretched his trunk through the gaps and did the same. Poor Kamili was turning this way and that, trying to defend her stash!
When the orphans wander out of their stockades in the early morning, Maxwell often plods out from his sheltered area and waits for them to pass his gate. Taroha, Olomunyak, Pardamat, Kerrio and Kamili often stop off to greet the blind black rhino on their way out to the forest. Max stands very still during these interactions, basking in the attention as they rest their trunks on his head. One morning, Kerrio teased him by kicking his gate. Max scampered — insofar as a large rhino can scamper — around his stockade happily, rocking his enormous head and kicking up clouds of dust.
Everyone is terribly protective of their large rhino friend. In a break from routine, the warthogs paid Maxwell a very early morning visit one day. Max was still resting on his bed of hay and the elephants were still in their stockades when the visitors arrived. The pigs started fighting, which woke Max up. He tried to separate the warthogs but they were fully stuck in and neither would stop. Hearing the commotion, Taroha, Kamili, Wamata, Olomunyak, and Nyambeni became agitated and started trumpeting and pushing their heads against the gates. By the time we opened their doors a few minutes later, Max had chased away the fighting pigs and was feeding peacefully on pellets with the remaining female pig. Nevertheless, the five elephants headed straight to his gate to check that all was fine!
Talek is neat as a pin. In contrast to sloppy eaters like Pardamat and Olomunyak, Talek likes to finish every drop of milk and every range cube. She is also unflappable — sometimes too much so for her own good. Even when other orphans push her, she does not respond or retaliate. One morning at the mud wallow, tiny Kipekee shoved Talek so hard that she almost fell over. Calmly, Talek regained her balance and went back to browsing. Her turn-the-other-cheek attitude is unusual for such a young elephant
‘Naughty Kipekee’ is becoming a theme — our tiny, spoiled girl is full of confidence and delights in causing mischief. It seems that we have a Wendi-in-the-making. We link Kipekee’s cheekiness and confidence to her team of seven nannies, Kerrio, Kamili, Latika, Nyambeni, Muridjo, Mzinga, and Talek. She knows that she can get away with anything — and so she does.
In fact, the nannies handle Kipekee like a high-stakes military operation. In contrast to most babies, Kipekee does not seem to have a favourite nanny. The older females tag team efficiently with at least one always in attendance. Kipekee stands docilely while one arrives and another leaves. For example, Mzinga was on Kipekee duty one morning. When a Keeper opened the baby’s stable door, he found Mzinga waiting outside. Mzinga walked in, scooped up Kipekee, and shepherded her out to join the herd. Muridjo, Nyambeni, Latika and Kamili immediately came over to greet and check on Kipekee outside the stockades. A few minutes later, Mzinga, Kamili and Latika led the herd out to the forest, leaving Muridjo and Nyambeni to bring up the rear with Kipekee. Not long after, Muridjo and Nyambeni handed over the little girl to Kamili and Mzinga. Our tag team of nannies are very well-organised, taking it in turns to look after Kipekee and making sure she is never left alone.
By contrast, Latika most definitely has her favourites. One morning, our mercurial girl was in a strange mood, pushing whoever she happened to encounter. Emerging from her stockade, she met Pardamat and Talek, who she pushed to the side without preamble. Taroha, Nyambeni and Olomunyak received the same treatment, as did Muridjo, Mzinga, and little Kipekee a little further on. Kamili and Wamata did not, however, receive this treatment. Latika greeted her age-mates and her favourite baby, settling to browse with Wamata as she does every day.
Pardamat and Olomunyak are evenly matched and like to play — usually! More often than not, the games are started by Olomunyak, the current playmaker of our herd. One morning, he approached Pardamat from behind and gave him a shove. This may have been an invitation to play, but it was not welcomed. Trumpeting, Pardamat turned around and the boys clashed heads in a serious contest of strength. Luckily, Pardamat calmed down quickly, so we did not have to intervene.
Taroha is a singular bull. His tusks are growing and he is now the oldest bull in the herd — but still the gentlest! Out in the bush one morning, the kind chap was pulling down branches for younger orphans who could not reach the tasty leaves. Not only was he feeding Olomunyak, Wamata and Talek, but he was also trunk touching them to check that they were fine. Taroha is a very unusual bull.
Taroha may be the oldest bull in the herd but is still afraid of the rain — especially at night. A rainy night means a sleepless night for Taroha and anyone in his vicinity. At first light the next morning, he anxiously pushes at his door, letting us know that he wants to be out and about with the herd. Kindly Olomunyak often makes a point to comfort him after these fraught nights.
The arrivals of Kipekee and Arthi dethroned Wamata’s status as Nursery baby. Wamata has come to accept her new position and behaves kindly to her little sister and new brother almost all of the time. One day, however, Wamata could not resist giving Kipekee a shove while she was browsing in the forest. The little girl fell over and the slightly bigger girl dashed away. She knew she had been naughty and was running for cover before Kerrio could discipline her!
11th September was an extra special day. KWS rescued an orphaned black rhino in the north of Kenya and then requested that he be raised at the Nursery. The young calf is around one year old and was rescued because his mother had died. Although he has an injured leg, he is in good physical condition. He settled into a stockade and soon embraced his Keepers, who continue to keep him company day and night as he recovers. He is subdued and a bit wary, but not aggressive.
Exactly one week later, another rescue arrived at the stockades — a baby zebra! The little girl was found alone, covered in bruises, on a road without either her mother or her herd. She was quiet and calm on the first day of her life at the Nairobi Nursery. In the following weeks, she and the rhino became very good friends.
As she gets older and begins to outgrow the Nursery, Kerrio's leadership is evolving. Nowadays, she is less in the midst of the herd and more on the outskirts. She is still a fabulous matriarch but is increasingly allowing her assistant nannies to look after the babies and only intervening when there is a problem. Kerrio is the oldest elephant in the herd — and she seems to know this. Some days, she walks behind the herd at a distance; other days, she is the last to get out of the mud bath and heads off in a different direction rather than catching up with the herd. Kerrio is an enigma — a responsible mini matriarch who also behaves like a dominant bull.
Kamili is having an evolution of her own. Of all the Nursery females in recent years, she stands out as one of the least maternal. At least, that was her character until Kipekee arrived and Sileita, Mushuru, Sholumai and Weka graduated. Since that time, our independent girl has changed into a caring older sister. She is very devoted to little Kipekee and happily spends hours looking after her.
Olomunyak is our charming young glutton. The naughty boy has found a corner that he can squeeze through to access the pellets store. As the herd heads into the forest in the morning, he pulls a neat disappearing act and blissfully enjoys his own private feast. He is never worried about being left behind, as he is too busy filling his large belly.
Nyambeni has always been such a caring nanny, but sometimes she has mood swings and pushes the younger elephants for no reason — exhibiting Kamili-like behaviour. One morning at the mud wallow, Nyambeni pushed Wamata from behind. Wamata rolled into the trough, knocking it over, and had an extra bath. Afterwards, Nyambeni did check on the younger girl and touched her with her trunk, as if regretting her actions.
Mzinga is back to being a rhino's best friend. Our young girl with a big heart excludes no one and likes to make friends with everyone — of all species! She is very intrigued by the new rhino and takes any opportunity to visit him. On several occasions, she even dodged behind some bushes and snuck back to the stockades so she could make friends with the rhino. At first, he was not sure what she was up to — but our friendly girl was not giving up her pursuit. She remained standing outside the gate until he calmed down and allowed her to lay her trunk along his body. Mission accomplished, Mzinga returned to the herd of her own accord.
September ended with a full-circle moment to the snack-stealing saga. Perhaps remembering the brazen heist that happened earlier in the month, Kamili was stocking up on her own stash of pellets by taking trunkfuls from Nyambeni's pile. Our 'kali mama' did not seem to mind as she lay resting on her bed of hay. Perhaps Nyambeni was too tired after another busy day of browsing and playing at the Nairobi Nursery!