Newborn Elephant Struggles To Stay On Its Feet; Topples Over Backwards

The video shows the adorable moments of a new-born baby elephant still learning to stand on its wobbly legs, ending with a tumble over backwards down to the ground.

The arrival of any new-born human baby on this planet is always a special occasion. It is no different in the animal world and to see any new-born animal baby in the wild brings about that same warm feeling. The only difference is that us humans are mostly born in a safe and protected environment, while animals in the African wild are born into a dangerous and totally exposed environment. With our protected environments which we as humans have created for ourselves, we don’t have to run from predators anymore. Human babies instinctively only start standing up and walking in about a years’ time. When you are a new-born wild animal in the African wild, standing up, walking, and even running is the first thing to learn and get right before anything else. Some prey animal species such as antelopes can usually stand, walk, and run within minutes.

When these animals are born, they are incredibly vulnerable to predators. New -born elephants, such as the one in the video, take about twenty minutes to half an hour to be standing and walking. Being exposed to the elements and lurking predators, new-born wild animals need to get moving quickly as there is no time for hanging around. We were fortunate enough to come across a mother elephant and her new-born baby. We could still see the wet blood on the inside of the mother elephant’s hind legs and this elephant calf was not older than fifteen minutes. We just missed the birth occasion but was blessed with some of the most adorable moments when the elephant baby had to make use of its wobbly legs, learning to stand up and walk. The baby elephant would fall more than stand and every time the mother elephant would be there with a helping trunk.

The baby elephant would wobble again while standing up. I managed to capture this adorable moment when the baby elephant looked like it was standing up all fine before it suddenly lost its balance, and slowly toppled over backwards, down to the ground. The mother elephant was there in a flash with her trunk, supporting her baby back onto its feet. It didn’t take long before the baby was all confident on its feet and ready to move on with the rest of the herd. What a fantastic moment in nature, witnessing a new-born elephant learning how to stand and walk for the first time.