An adult female in white cropped pants and a short-sleeved shirt stands beside an African elephant in a dry savanna, holding what appears to be food or a treat for the animal. Nearby, a male adult wearing a safari hat holds a map or guidebook under bright daylight. 8:34
HERD Elephant Orphanage South Africa channel icon HERD Elephant Orphanage South AfricaOriginal creator 80K views Save

Weaning this baby elephant will take a year

Bottle time at HERD goes fast, and the young elephant on the other end would still like it to go faster. more

Khanyisa, a baby African elephant, drinks with real gusto. Her caretaker holds the bottles and says out loud what Khanyisa seems to be thinking. "She's like, you're too slow."

That caretaker is Adine, a constant presence at Khanyisa's side. As the milk goes down, she explains what is coming. Khanyisa is close to weaning, and it'll be slow on purpose. They will wait for the first rain, then stretch the whole thing over a year. "It's not that she will be weaned overnight," she says.

A person feeds an elephant from a bottle while holding a second bottle in bright sunlight. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
A caretaker holds the next bottle ready while Khanyisa drinks.

At first she will still get her bottles four times a day. Then they'll come out one at a time, a morning bottle first and later an evening one. The whole thing is meant to go very slowly.

The milk still gives her vitamins and minerals that her body uses. Take all the bottles away at once, Adine says, and "it will be a disaster for her." Her condition would drop, and seriously.

An adult female in white cropped pants and a short-sleeved shirt stands beside an African elephant in a dry savanna, holding what appears to be food or a treat for the animal. Nearby, a male adult wearing a safari hat holds a map or guidebook under bright daylight. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Bottle time at HERD goes fast, and the young elephant on the other end would still like it to go faster.

So the plan waits on the weather. After the rains come new grass and greenery, and that is when Khanyisa can start getting what she needs from food instead.

Until then, she keeps draining her bottles to the last drop. Plenty of the people who follow her are glad it will take a year. They're not ready to give up the sight of her at the bottle either.

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