
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Animal Orphanage, Nairobi, Kenya, Africa
This photo just taken hours ago is of a baby Elephant who lost his mother. Elephants are prone to sunburn too, and as a result the caretaker follows this little guy around with an umbrella on top of the sunscreen applied to him. In the wild elephants use mud to help prevent sunburn, but the young ones haven’t learned how to properly slather on some wild mud sunblock yet. In addition a baby elephant is used to being in the shadow of his mother, being orphaned a caretaker with an umbrella is the next best thing to the sun protection his mother can provide.
To watch this little pachyderm bumble around while his caretaker hastily chases after him with an umbrella is hilarious, but entirely necessary to emulate the loving family environment that an elephant needs to survive. Without love and attention the elephants will to live wains eventually leading to death. It’s this formula of creating a family of caretakers that created the first successful rearing of an orphaned african elephant, a program that has rescued over a hundred elephants from the loss of their families due to poaching.
For more on the animal orphanage see http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/


very cool!
WOW! That is something to really ponder on.
nice
Gran lección de amor.
the image captured my interest.. the story captured my heart ♥…
Kudos to all who do this work, thank you for sharing
Some walk their dog, others walk their elephant… :O)
Lovely baby elephant.
image
I wonder how it would create an elephant as a pet if they stay this size.
lovely
Pity to this baby elephant, separated from mother…! May God save her….
so nice of him,
The baby elephant is very beautiful, The baby elephant is like to eat the tree food
Hi I recently went to Kenya and I saw these elephants, they are really cool.
que tierno de tu parte
wow goooooood pic
this is my favorite creature of all time. big,powerful,but has no intention of hurting anything or anyone.
+Marty Philibert Unless you tick one off, then they will stomp you squishy
Allow me to share mine:
http://blogdascoisasaserio.blogspot.com/2011/03/david-sheldrick-elephant-orphanage.html
Missing Kenya.
Love the baby elephant. Lucky for him that someone is willing to do this work to protect him! Thanks for sharing the photo.
great shot and story.. enjoying your photos from the road!
So beautiful!
What a cutie
so nice
awwwww how sweet
nice to know someone is there for you
Sweet! +Kyle Marquardt Good job!
The man holding the umbrella for themselves or for the elephants ?!!!
I like the lighting of this photo…Great, I LUV IT!