What's an elephant ear feel like?

The Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary has orphaned elephants from 9 weeks to 9 years in their care. The elephants, who have green-coated keepers with them all the time including when sleeping at night, came in two groups for their milk and for a play in the mud pools. The costs of seeing them have rocketed in the last month (it’s now only worthwhile if you are seeing the national park on the same day) and the visitors have dropped considerably so we were able to touch the elephants. Did you know that the under-surface of their ears is like polished leather? The animals can get sunburn (damaging their ears) and also get cold and suffer pneumonia. They are therefore wrapped in blankets and their keepers sometimes use umbrellas to protect them. They need milk (SMA Gold; cow’s milk doesn’t work) for 5 years and are then weaned off onto a maize porridge mix. They continue to need the family environment for another 4 years before they can be released to a Park in the East (Tsavo).

Here is a coated youngster, some others having a friendly rumble, and two intermediates racing from out of the bush to get their milk.

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