What Makes This Sweet Elephant Unique: Doldol’s nickname is little ‘Beetle’ and it suits her to perfection. What with her “adorable protuberant eyes and perfectly round ears (heart shaped (6)) that are constantly flapping like wings”. ) She is always “buzzing around with great purpose, always busy and investigating”. Doldol is a force to be reckoned with. This tiny elephant is one of a kind! (5)

 

How Baby Elephant is Adjusting to New Elephant Family at DSWT:  Doldol has long since renounced her ‘only child’ status. It wasn’t an easy thing for her to do, for sure. Nowadays, the little elephant has become ‘Queen Bee’ to her fellow orphans and happily “leads her mini herd around with great purpose, tiny trunk aloft and heart-shaped ears held wide”! (6) This little girl is growing up and that is a good thing in every way.

Baby Elephant’s Personality Traits: Although Doldol remains ‘impossibly small’ (5) (even at her current age of 19 months she is still known as SWT’s ‘miniature elephant’) she has always known how to throw her weight around! This little elephant was never shy about letting her feelings known especially when an incoming neonate orphaned elephant threatened her ‘only child’ status.  Why once, tiny Doldol “stomped around in protest” upon a new sibling’s arrival in July 2022! (This, like most of Doldol’s demands, was short-lived!)

 

Baby Elephant’s New Friends: Mishak and Peter and Jonas (Doldol’s Keepers, almost exclusively Mishak  at the start) became her human friends, akin to parents and more. Why, little Doldol once followed Mishak around so much that she became his ‘little shadow’! (Early on, Mishak was so hesitant in leaving her that he “he refused to take leave for a full eight months” for fear the little elephant’s resolve might break sending her health into decline. (6)

Yet, in the beginning, when Doldol’s ‘protective creche’ consisted of only her Keepers, there was a motley crew of  ‘critters’ who, down at their favorite river, managed to venture in. (5) There was the mongoose, and the hornbills, and the dik-dik posse. Even a very loyal orphaned Verreaux eagle-owl named Lugut would come & join Doldol just in time for her mud bath (a bird, when sized up to the ‘impossibly small elephant’, was not much smaller than the little elephant herself!) And all that time Lugut would just sit back and observe the little orphan. Maybe, as a fellow orphan, he understood exactly how she felt.

 

 

 

Her Keeper’s Diary includes updates on Doldol and her other sweet elephant friends (8)         

More Updates on Doldol (5)

 

 

 

To learn more about The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s (SWT) Fostering Program and how to Adopt Doldol copy & paste link (10) in Sources below  then “search by name” Doldol

Note: At The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (1) you may “foster your orphan” (10) from 1 year to up to 10 years! (For Details copy & paste link (11) in Sources below (FAQs – Adopting – ‘How many years can I adopt an orphan?’)

And before you submit your donation you “may select a few more orphans to foster” at the same time – for those of us who cannot decide! (For Details copy & paste link (12) in Sources below (At the checkout cart after you have added your chosen elephant orphan to your ‘basket’ scroll down and you will see  ‘Would you like to adopt another orphan?’ Just click the button ‘Add Another Orphan’ and proceed.)

The orphaned elephants at The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust are “reliant on your kind support” (1) and, as always, the future of our elephants is in our hands.

 

When you adopt / foster your chosen elephant through the DSWT “Digital Adoption Programme”  You will receive…

“Personalized adoption certificate”

“Monthly email update on your orphan and the project”

“Monthly water color by Angela Sheldrick”

“Access to special content: latest Keepers’ Diaries, videos and photos”

 

“Important Note: Thank you for considering an adoption. Each orphan needs more than one foster parent. Your adoption donation will be processed by the SWT UK and Kenya to help all the orphans in our care.”  (3)

So while you may choose one (or two!) elephants to foster your donation to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (aka The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust) will provide help for orphans who have the greatest need at the time the SWT receives your donation.

 

David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on YouTube dswtkenya (13)

David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on Facebook @thedsw (14)

David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on Twitter @DSWT (15)   

David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on Instagram (16) 

 

Watch YouTube video Doldol’s Rescue (9)

For information on how to Adopt This Elephant see: (10)  

 

 

 

Note: All quotes in this 2 part article are from baby elephant Doldol’s orphan profile (3) unless otherwise stated. 

Images: Doldol rescued elephant at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust SWT from CC Meet Doldol (9)

 

Sources:

(1) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/ 

(2) ADOPT DOLDOL https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphansq%5Bspecies.slug%5D=&q%5Bage%5D=&q%

5Bgender%5D=&q%5Brescued.environ%5D=&q%5Blocation.slug%5D=&q%5Bname%5D=

doldol&filter_grid=2&q%5Balive%5D=true#orphan_search 

(3) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphans/doldol 

(4) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/projects/orphans/rescue-map

(5) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/news/updates/rescue-of-doldol

(6) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/news/updates/doldol-update

(7) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/news/updates/kaluku-our-field-headquarters 

(8) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/keepers-diaries/search?q%5Bentry.dated_year%5D=&q%5Bentry.dated_month%5D=&q%5Bupdate_orphans%5D%5B%5D=Doldol&q%5Bterm%5D=#filters

(9) https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=doldol+sheldrick+wildlife+trust+Creative+Commons

(10) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphans 

(11) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/faqs 

(12) https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/checkout/cart 

(13) https://www.youtube.com/sheldricktrust 

(14) https://www.facebook.com/SheldrickTrust/ 

(15) https://twitter.com/SheldrickTrust 

(16) https://www.instagram.com/sheldricktrust/ 

 

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