Good News from Amboseli

Instead of disturbing or depressing news from Kenya, I actually have some good news to report. This morning I got word from Amboseli that there is a new baby in Echo's family. Elettra, the 12-year-old daughter of Ella (Echo's sister), gave birth to her first calf last night. It's a female and she seems robust and healthy. Martyn Colbeck, the cameraman who is working on the Animal Planet series we are currently filming, was the one who found her and he has been filming her since early this morning. He reports that she's already been in the swamp and momentarily got stuck but older and wiser females came to the rescue and got her out.

As is typical of elephant families, Elettra's new calf has numerous "allomothers". An allomother is an individual who cares for an infant that is not its own. In other words it is a sort of baby-sitter. Immature female elephants are strongly attracted to young calves particularly newborns. They watch over them, follow them around, rescue them if they get in trouble and just generally fuss over them and give them lots of attention. This behavior is beneficial for all concerned: the calf is well taken care of, the mother gets a chance to feed and rest, which is just what a lactating female needs, and the baby-sitter learns about mothering herself, which will be very useful knowledge later on when she has her own calf.

I will be flying down to Amboseli on Tuesday and will take some photos of the new calf and post them.

A note on Elettra's name: this individual was named as a young calf for Isabella Rossellini's daughter Elettra. Isabella is one of ATE's trustees and has been a very loyal supporter over many years.