This is the endearing video of an orphaned baby elephant learning to carry his own milk bottle.
Footage taken at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi shows Bondeni, a two-year-old elephant, attempting to grasp a bottle of fresh warm formula milk with the tip of his trunk.
Bondeni, a baby who came to the Kenyan animal res.cue center in 2019, manages to get hold of the bottle before dropping it and allowing his guardian to assist him. During the video, the newborn elephant holds the enormous bottle with his trunk while slurping its contents. He loses his grasp as he raises the bottle higher, and the bottle crashes to the ground.
His caretaker retrieves the bottle off the ground and assists the animal with his feeding.
‘He might be little, but Bondeni is huge on attitude and bravery – watch him try to be a big bull and handle his milk bottle all by himself,’ stated the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on Twitter. He’s an orphan under our nursery’s care.’
Bondeni came to the rehabilitation center in 2019 after traveling into a community near the Chyulu Hills on his own. The calf’s feet were covered in lacerations from slogging over the neighboring lava fields, and he was carried to the centre’s Kaluku Field HQ for treatment.
Bondeni struggled to walk at first owing to his lacerations, but his wounds quickly healed and he was transferred from the trust’s neonatal center to their nursery.
Keepers create freshly manufactured formula milk for Bondeni every three hours to ensure he receives the same amount of nutrition he would in the wild. While keepers frequently hand-feed the infant elephants, as the animals get older, some prefer to grasp the bottle and feed themselves.
Following the touching events, social media users praised the ‘adorable’ elephant.
‘Oh, he is a terrific little dude,’ one user said. Within a week, he will have mastered it.’
‘They grow up too fast!’ said another. It won’t be long before he gets the bottle in his grasp.’
‘Bondeni is so adorable trying to be a big bull and wants to be independent,’ said another. Team SWT, you are absolutely incredible!’
Another person said, ‘Could he be any cuter?’ I admire him and his character.’ Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick DBE started the Trust in 1977, and it is one of Africa’s oldest conservation organizations, well recognized for its work with elephants.
The nonprofit, which also collaborates with the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Kenya Forest Service, has successfully res.cu.ed, nurtured, and reintegrated more than 160 orphaned elephants back into the wild.
African elephants are the world’s biggest terrestrial creatures, distinguished by their trunks and huge ears, which help them to dissipate excess heat.
The Asian Elephant is normally smaller than the African Elephant, and its skin is dark grey to brown with pink spots on the forehead, ears, and the base of the trunk.
