Gender
Male
Rescued date
18 August 2009
Rescue location
Laikipia, Rumuruti Ranch
Date of birth (estimate)
15 August 2009
Reason orphaned
Unknown
Age at rescue
0 weeks old (approx)
Date of passing
13 November 2009
The calf was back in the Nairobi Nursery by noon, a tiny newborn baby bull, whose umbilicus was still moist and whose ears were petal pink and soft, indicative that he was brand new and might not have even suckled his elephant mother to benefit from her first colustrum milk which imparts the antibodies a baby needs to trigger the immune system for survival.
Very fortunately, we still had a stock of frozen Plasma spun from the blood of a healthy Mara Bull elephant. This was infused into the calf's ear vein, the vital life support a newborn elephant needs for even a chance of survival. He is an enchanting and very endearing miniature who captures the hearts of all who meet him. Shaded by an umbrella to protect his baby ears and body from sunburn, and still fed on demand, he spends his days with his Keepers and some of the other babies near the Elephant Stables, still too young and fragile to be with all the others. His rescue brings the number in the Nairobi Nursery to 25, now that Tassia and Taveta have been sent to join Lesanju's group at the Voi Rehabilitation Centre to free up Nursery space for others that are bound to need help during this extremely challenging year.
The calf was back in the Nairobi Nursery by noon, a tiny newborn baby bull, whose umbilicus was still moist and whose ears were petal pink and soft, indicative that he was brand new and might not have even suckled his elephant mother to benefit from her first colustrum milk which imparts the antibodies a baby needs to trigger the immune system for survival.
View diary updates from across all our orphan units as written by the Keepers
Death of Pesi The 13th November, 2009 was another extremely sad day in our Nairobi Infant Elephant Nursery, for precious little Pesi died very unexpectedly