Not so melancholy elephant

December 18, 2017 12:11 PM

Orphan elephant brings her newest baby to show off to the people who rescued her back in 1999.
posted by MartinWisse (27 comments total)

Mwah!

Needs more Henry Mancini.
posted by Capt. Renault at 12:17 PM on December 18, 2017 [4 favorites]

Very endearing. Thank you for the link.
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 12:25 PM on December 18, 2017

Lovely on so many levels--that she survived as an orphan, that she successfully reintegrated into the wild, that she had a baby herself and brought the baby back to show her adoptive family...agh, so fantastic. Thank you for sharing this.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:36 PM on December 18, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think my favorite part of the video was when the second baby elephant, Nusu, was trying to use his trunk to drink, but it wasn't long enough yet.

Thanks so much for sharing.
posted by dancing_angel at 12:54 PM on December 18, 2017 [3 favorites]

“Jai Ganesh!”
posted by Fizz at 1:00 PM on December 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Adorbs! Also, Yoyo is such a great name for an elephant.
posted by orrnyereg at 1:09 PM on December 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

This wins both the "ultra kawaii" and the "all the feels" awards for today.
posted by nikoniko at 1:24 PM on December 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh, that bit around 0:10 where he's tripping over his own feet ... *hearteyes*
posted by Kat Allison at 1:25 PM on December 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm already halfway to tears just reading that, and you expect me to watch the video?
posted by hydra77 at 1:50 PM on December 18, 2017 [10 favorites]

Baby Elephant GIFs (reddit link).
posted by bouvin at 2:03 PM on December 18, 2017

Elephants tell stories to each other. We don't know how they do it. But you can bet that this was a little bit of Elephant for "Hey kid. These people are okay. Watch out for the rest of them, though."
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 2:24 PM on December 18, 2017 [11 favorites]

I cannot reconcile the reality of elephants with the idea there are psychopaths who kill them for sport.
posted by maxwelton at 3:19 PM on December 18, 2017 [29 favorites]

Flappy ears!
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:31 PM on December 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't support the death penalty, but I'm willing to make an exception for safari game hunters.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:09 PM on December 18, 2017 [4 favorites]

I daresay that baby elephants are the best baby animals. They're cute, they're curious, they're relatively smart. Contrast that with puppies, who are idiots.
posted by AFABulous at 6:26 PM on December 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

But they are the best idiots!
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:58 PM on December 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

made my mom cry
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:05 PM on December 18, 2017 [3 favorites]

puppies, who are idiots

At least they won't make plans to murder you in your sleep like kittens will. That's right, I said it: kittens are stone killers.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:12 PM on December 18, 2017

Also: sweet post, thanks MW!
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:12 PM on December 18, 2017

That's right, I said it: kittens are stone killers.

Oh yeah, Finley had super big murder plans.

Baby elephants are so freaking cute. And the longer I watch video of elephants, the weirder they look...but in a good way.
posted by cooker girl at 6:09 AM on December 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

He's mostly grown now, but when Baylor was born at the Houston Zoo the whole city was pretty much in thrall for weeks. There was a cam you could visit, and a super popular video of him frolicking through a baby pool that, sadly, I can't seem to find now to include here.

Elephants are COOL.
posted by uberchet at 7:35 AM on December 19, 2017

made my mom cry

"my mom" Sure eyebrows. Sure.
posted by Emmy Rae at 9:29 AM on December 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

I needed that today.
posted by twilightlost at 10:36 AM on December 19, 2017

I don't support the death penalty, but I'm willing to make an exception for safari game hunters.

I think you mean poachers. Big game hunters, while it's not at all my thing, are not out shooting cow elephants with calves or decimating populations. They pay through the nose to shoot a very few elephants each year, often ones that are already in people's crosshairs, and the fees fund a lot of wildlife conservation programs. Most wildlife professionals work closely with hunters.

Poachers, otoh, kill outside the law usually for the Chinese market and can and will decimate a population readily. They also shoot wildlife professionals, game wardens and locals.

Lots of people don't like hunting but eat meat and I personally think that it's a hell of a lot more ethical to let an animal live a natural life then go hunt it than it is to raise them on factory farms. I would never trophy hunt myself but people do and they are happy to pay for conservation, far far more happy to pay than the general public.
posted by fshgrl at 9:25 PM on December 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm gonna say it's probably not ethical to include "a very few elephants a year" in big game hunting at all. These are sentient beings, and it's going to be a tremendous shame if we don't figure them out before they're all dead.

I'm not suggesting that we end big game hunting (well, i am, but that's beside this point). Rhino, while critically endangered, isn't in the same league as Elephant. Neither is Buffalo, or the large cats.

If we're going to waste Elephant for sport hunting, we might as well hunt Man for sport as well.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:54 AM on December 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

All animals are sentient beings, pigs are probably as smart and family oriented as elephants. I'd prefer we not hunt any big game anymore until they are plentiful again either but all species deserve our respect, not just the big charismatic ones
posted by fshgrl at 10:35 AM on December 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

except centipedes, fuck those guys
posted by AFABulous at 11:05 AM on December 20, 2017 [3 favorites]