Tourist Catches Amazing Moment As Elephant Gives Birth — Herd Comes Charging Over On Camera

Nov 24, 2020

Elephants are majestic creatures. They’re also amazing moms – and aunts, uncles, and cousins. You won’t believe what vacationers got to see on an African safari.

This group of tourists was close enough to the mama elephant that they got to watch her give birth at Chobe National Park in Botswana. It was a magical moment as they saw the new baby enter the world. They never expected things to get even more magical. Luckily, David Xing uploaded the video for all to see back in 2017.

After the birth, the mama’s herd joined in. They rushed around her, trumpeting and greeting the new baby. Then they made it fairly clear that they wanted the humans to leave while they bonded with the new bundle of joy. The lucky tourists snapped plenty of pictures. They won’t need to look at them to remember this magical moment forever, but now you can benefit from their quick photo skills.

Elephants gestate for 18 to 22 months, according to ThoughtCo. The giant tots, which come in weighing around 250 pounds, are born with the ability to walk and eat straight from the womb. Amazingly, the 3-foot tall babies drink around three gallons of milk a day. So when it comes to elephant babies, which are called calves, just know that they are very big and very hungry! Still, they need plenty of protection from predators and poachers. That’s part of why elephants are so social.

They typically travel in large herds of grandmothers, mothers, and babies, according to ThoughtCo. Adult males, however, head out on their own between 12 and 14 years of age. 

Botswana's Chobe National park is the country's first and most biologically diverse wildlife park, boasting a population of lions, elephants, hippopotami, and common warthogs. The park is known, however, for its large elephant population. According to some estimates, the park contains an elephant population of around 50,000. The elephants at Chobe belong to the Kalahari variety, the largest elephant species.

Despite their large numbers at Chobe, elephants in Botswana are still threatened by poaching, according to the African Conservation Experience. In August of 2018, for example, a team from Elephants Without Borders carried out an aerial survey of Botswana in order to see how many deceased elephants they could find. Unfortunately, the Elephants Without Borders team found more decrease than they expected, indicating that poaching was on the rise.

This is especially alarming since Botswana is home to around 135,000 of Africa's 415,000 elephants — or around 32 percent of the continent's population. Luckily, organizations like Elephants Without Borders are there to prevent poachers from taking advantage of Botswana's large elephant population.

According to Elephants Without Borders' mission statement, the organization "strives to identify wildlife migratory corridors, secure wild habitats and elevate conservation of all wildlife." Some of their most notable projects include the aforementioned aerial surveys. Since 2001, the organization has conducted over 4,000 hours worth of aerial surveys in order to collect data regarding wildlife population, seasonal distribution, among other important findings.

The organization even conducted an aerial survey of the Chobe forest where the below video was taken. According to their 2011-2013 surveys of the Chobe Forest Reserves, the populations in the area seems stable. However, Elephants Without Borders does point out that the elephants' ecosystem has been negatively affected by bush fires in the region — along with deforestation and encroaching human habitats. The organization further reports that due to the elephants' shrinking habitat, which affects their access to water, there will be "an inevitable increase in human elephant conflict."

In 2019, Elephants Without Borders' aerial survey found that there was significant increase in poaching, though some have disputed the organization's claims.

"At what point do we say we have a problem?" Mike Chase, the scientist who started Elephants Without Borders, asked in an interview with BBC.

"Is it at 10? 50? 100? 150? 1,000? Lessons have taught us - when we look at Tanzania that lost 60% of its elephant population in five years - that's how quickly poaching can settle into a population," Chase continued.

"We saw with our own eyes 157 confirmed poached elephants. We estimate that the total poached in the last year is at least 385 and probably far more because that is based on what we actually saw and have not had time or finances to visit all carcasses on the ground."

Fortunately, wildlife preserves like Chobe National Park, featured in the video below, help to protect the amazing elephant populations that so desperately need our help. This video is another reminder of how beautiful, majestic, human-like, and important elephants are.

Let us know what you think of this incredible video, and be sure to pass this story on to raise awareness regarding elephant preservation in Botswana.