I know, you just want to take a picture. But you have to keep your distance. Normally I would have charged at you and chased you off, but I’m trying to be calm and progressive. and be less like the other mothers. They get a bit overprotective to make sure all the babies in the herd are safe from any threats. But then again, you can’t blame them. Elephant calves are quite helpless as babies. I mean, look at this cute little one… he has to constantly touch my leg with his trunk just to assure himself that I’m there, even though he can see me! I love the attention and love giving it back to him, because in just two short years, the calves are all grown up and wander off into the world… and we mothers miss them so much!

Which is why we pamper and spoil them as much as we can while they’re with us. They get fed milk every hour or so, walk only short distances, and they get to sleep a lot. Oh, and we also teach them how to use their trunks. You’d be surprised how weak the trunks are when they are kids! We teach them how to pick up little twigs and twirl it around, and also how to grab clumps of grass and whack it around till the sand is all gone so that they can eat and so on. Right, it’s time for junior to have a bath so we’re heading off to the lake. Bye!

Dilum got this great shot of a mother and her calf in Udawalawe National Park. Elephant sightings are fairly common for guests at the Mahoora Tented Safari Camp in Udawalawe, since herds sometimes forage around the outskirts of the camp.