Dear Elephants:
Elephant Spoken Here was born on 12 August 2015 so that makes us 6 years old. That is about 6.86 elephant years^ so that puts ESH in our adolescence+, as you are very much like us (humans) in your lifespan.*
Baby elephant discovering how to use her trunk!
Like us (humans) you are considered an adult at age 18. With your whole lives before you, as wild elephants, you should not be concerned with dying, especially at the hands of a human who, for money, will hunt you down. They want you for your teeth, really, the ivory that is gold to them (human poachers).
You would be free to live, really, as you have ‘no natural predators’# in the wild (your babies and weakened members of your elephant family are vulnerable to attacks by lions, as you know)
It is humans who mess things up. Human poachers. Human encroachment into your (elephant) habitats. Human greed.
Face plant! Mama elephant to the rescue. BBC film crew captures elephant family crossing the road
For this, we, at Elephant Spoken Here (ESH) continue to serve as elephant advocates for you, our wild elephants in Africa and Asia and for your captive cousins around the globe kept unmercifully for elephant tourism, elephant entertainment (performing or being displayed in zoos, circuses or traveling shows) or for heaving heavy loads (logging or hauling humans).
If humans choose to not turn this around someday soon there will be a world without you, our elephants.
Today for our 6th Birthday, we, at Elephant Spoken Here would like to share the joy of your babies, the baby elephant, in hopes that a human heart will discover what is important after all.
Share the planet.
Sincerely,
Your Humble Servant,
Savannah Crisp
Here is the baby elephant video we promised you humans.
Transcribed from: Baby Elephants are So Clumsy!, First Year on Earth by BBC Earth
“Baby elephants are so Clumsy! Newborn elephants can weigh 100 kilos (220.4623 pounds) and stand almost a metre (3.28084 feet) tall – the biggest baby born on land! You would be clumsy too if you were born from the same weight as an adult giant panda! An elephant’s trunk contains more muscles than the entire human body so controlling it is not as easy as it looks. Resulting in a lot of face planting!
The herd can travel up to 15 kilometres (9.320568 miles) a day so within hours of being born a calf must gain the strength to keep up. The herd will not wait for long! They soon get fed up with her antics and push her along. This ‘social bonding’ is crucial during an elephant’s first year on Earth.
*though our life stages differ, adolescence for an elephant begins when you are weaned.
Sources:
^https://www.easycalculation.com/other/fun/Human-years-to-Elephant-years.html
+ https://elephantaidinternational.org/elephant-facts/
# https://globalelephants.org/the-basics/
& Creative Commons BBC Earth video & Images from Baby Elephants are So Clumsy! | First Year on Earth | BBC Earth
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Face planting happens a lot!
Mud is slippery! BBC film crew captures elephant family crossing the road