Bedtime at the Elephant Orphanage 

You are so correct.

deenibeeniable: Rockstars are nothing to me compared to this noble duty

@@terefefeyssa877 I think you may not realize that that's a figure of speech. I don't care about rockstars either. I'm referring to their overall wonderfulness.

@deenibeeniable : There is no figure of speech at all. If there is one, I oppose. I am against it. 😠

They don't need anyone cuddling with it. Dung is all a calf needs to feel warm, happy, and safe. This is why a mother elephant will regularly stuff her calf's face + trunk full with her dung, and rub her dung all over her little calf's face and body. The keeper's also have to rub adult female elephant dung all over the calves to keep them feeling warm, happy, and safe like their mother would do for them. At night, the keepers will regularly wipe some dung in and around the outside of the little calves trunks, and on their lips to relax the calves, and help them sleep throughout the night. The smell and taste of dung makes the calf feel relaxed, happy, warm, and safe during the night, so they sleep really well.

Another reason why the Keepers sleep with babies is that they get up to continue the three hourly milk feeding 24/7. If the babies are feeling very insecure, the Keepers would sleep on the ground beside them.

The same way human babies suck their thumbs or a pacifier, is how small elephant calves suck the fingers of the keepers or on the blanket you saw in this video. It's the comforting suckling action that assures the baby. So it doesn't mean that the calf is necessarily thinking of its mother. Sucking is what babies do. They do grieve for their mothers, of course, but sucking is natural for a baby. The caregivers are doing their best to fill the role of "mother" 24 hours a day, to meet all the baby's needs, not just physically, but emotionally too.

In order to love baby elephant, we must love grown elephant and not buy ivory, not support the ivory trade in any way at all. If a person or nation (people group) buys ivory or allows its sale, then they DON'T love baby elephants. Baby elephants DIE because of people buying or selling ivory. Tell your friends, family and neighbors that, so baby elephants can live with their mothers.

+rita turner,in the wild the baby gets warmth from mum & the herd & the first couple years are critical for babies that have been through so much trauma so the keepers sleep with them for comfort & reassurance

@Rita Turner Yes, the calf's mother and herd provide their warmth in winter in the wild. The keepers sleep with the calves for reassurance and to socially emulate herd-proximity (the herd/family is always present), and to attend to the calf's needs, one of which is to feed them milk every 3 hours around the clock, that means through the night as well. If someone doesn't attend them constantly, they will lose the will to live, will give up and die. It's vitally important for someone to always be with them, as that is what their mother would have done. Herd-proximity is everything to an elephant calf. The founder of Sheldrick Wildlife Trust learned this in the early years, so that is why it's so important in the saving of these calves' lives.

the keepers actually wipe poop on tip of the calf's trunk, and will wipe dung on and around the calf's lips throughout the night. the smell and taste of dung makes the calf feel warm, happy and safe, helping it sleep at night.

If you were to familiarize yourself with Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's work with these orphan elephants, and learn about the nurturing, healing, and hand-rearing process, and how they then graduate to the reintegration process, learning day by day over years how to live in the wild during the daytime, making friends with the nearby wild elephants, and eventually, when they are ready, they are invited to join a nearby herd, who teaches them more, who teaches them about the dangers of sleeping in the wild, who surrounds them and protects them as their own, then you would know how successful the orphan project is. They have hand-reared more than 260 orphan elephants, and there is success story after success story to be seen, including many now-grown ex-orphans who come to show off their new wild-born babies to their former caretakers. ~ The caretakers put blankets on the baby elephants because elephants can't internally regulate their body temperature, and the cold can cause pneumonia, where in the wild, the mother and family herd provide warmth to their babies. Elephant herds DO accept them, they teach them what only experienced elephants can teach, they do protect them and stand together for survival. The hand-rearing process can take up to 10 years, so it's a major investment of care, time, energy, nurture, and teaching, before each elephant is ready to return to the Wild. Please see Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's RU-vid channel or their website. I have gathered several videos of theirs into a playlist that also shares their story. They are very successful, and their wisdom in rearing them is key.