Research and observations on the life of elephants and their babies make it clear to us that they have an excellent social organization, in which each member has their role. This is something that baby elephants should know from the start. How do these little elephants manage to function in that organization? social and other questions about these animals when they are small we will solve them in the article, so if you are interested do not miss what comes next.
Let's start that yes, by knowing the basics, gestation and characteristics of how baby elephants are and then we will advance in other interesting data regarding their social development.
Gestation and birth of baby elephants
La An elephant's gestation lasts 22 months.. At birth it is practically identical to an adult elephant specimen but much smaller and without tusks. One feature is that the head is larger in proportion to the body than an adult specimen, something that is due to the size of their brain. As they grow, their body will gradually outgrow their head.
El average weight of an elephant at birth is about 90 kg. The birth takes place surrounded by the entire group of elephants that will see him grow. Several females will be in charge of protecting the birth of the new member of the herd since it is the most vulnerable moment of the baby elephant.
The first thing a newborn elephant does is stand up and look for the teat. from their mother to drink milk, these first sips of milk will be the most important due to the large amount of nutrients they contain. To learn more about birth, you can read about the gestation time of an elephant.
diet of baby elephants
These huge babies are fed for a long time by their mother, they drink about 11 liters of milk a day. Generating that amount of milk means that the mother has to consume much more food than usual. The baby elephant will feed exclusively on mother's milk during the first three months of life.
As the months passed, the little elephant will gradually incorporate other foods into their diet, while continuing to be breastfed by its mother. This causes milk intake to gradually decrease until it is completely eliminated from the diet. By then, the elephant will have learned to forage for food on its own. Weaning occurs between 5 and 10 years of age. If you'd like to learn more about this process, you can read about it.
Despite no longer being breastfed, the calf will be with its mother for several years, from which it will separate when it reaches sexual maturity. This happens depending on when the elephant is weaned, since it reaches adolescence and begins to search for its place in the herd. If you want to learn more about its habitat, visit the article on where the elephants live.
growth and evolution
As children, elephants They are very vulnerable, that is why they are constantly under surveillance. from his mother. It is also the reason that they are accompanied by her until her sexual awakening.
One of the formulas that predators have to hunt elephants is to hurt them in the hope that their mother will leave them dying. To avoid something like that, elephants protect each other. When moving, the herd leaves the mothers and young in the center. This system is also used when stopping to eat. In this way, the older females that are not in charge of their young and the males of the herd are in charge of protecting the mothers and the young.
This protection system is something that the baby elephant learns as it grows and then it will know its place in the herd This learning will serve to protect the other elephants, serving as a barrier when it is an adult member of the herd, unless that little elephant is female and becomes a mother and travels in the protected center but protecting her calf at the same time.
Elephant brain evolution
Unlike other animals that rely on instinct and don't need to overdevelop their brains, elephants do. In this sense they look more like humans than any other animal.
Since they are small they begin to receive stimuli and learn everything around them. It is a fundamental stage for the brain because they will learn social behaviors, survival, and different skills that will be useful in adulthood. For more information about its development, see the article on the endangered elephant.
Difference in treatment of baby elephants depending on their sex
How baby elephants are treated by both their mother and the herd will depend on whether it is male or female. if it turns out to be female, will grow up surrounded by them and later will become part of the group that protects the births of baby elephants. In that process, she will learn to protect the herd and also how to be a future mother as well.
If the baby elephant is a male, he will receive less attention, since the herd knows that when he reaches sexual maturity he will leave looking for another group, either single elephants or females to create their own herd.