Wanted: Jumbo family of an orphaned calf

Elephant- Nature’s great masterpiece; The only harmless great thing- John Donne

Argument Setting 

We are in the middle of the Wildlife Week Celebrations 2022, the theme of which for the current year is ‘Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration’. 4th October is incidentally World Animal Day as well. I felt it appropriate to pen down my thoughts on one of the critical issues- calf orphaning and reunion in wild- relating to the Asian Elephant, a charismatic endangered species in India. 

        

        I came across a news report with the above title in an English newspaper recently about an abandoned elephant calf, barely few months old in a North Eastern state of India. Even as the well being of the orphan bothered me, I was wondering as to why and how the calf elephant got separated from its mother. Elephant herds usually live as family groups with strong social relation. As like most other animals, mother elephants nurture their offspring until the young are capable of fending for themselves. 

    Biologists researching on elephants maintain that the range and intensity of these creatures' emotional responses resemble those of humans more than other animals, something especially evident in the deep, loving bonds seen between a mother elephant and her calf. In addition, the calf gets the care and protection from another matriarch in the group that takes on the role of an ‘allomother’. This means that an individual other than the biological mother of an offspring performs the functions of a mother. In human societies, ‘baby- shedding’ is something rare but continues to happen under circumstances such as that its arrival on earth was unwanted or unbearable. It could be for the reasons of abusive relationship, poverty, financial hardship and homelessness, post-natal depression, mental illness, and/or the child having some form of disability. Do some similar reasons operate in the elephant families that lead to the separation of the baby elephant from its mother and the herd? 

Calf, mother and herd bonding in elephant societies

A keen wildlife observer always looks at the composition of an elephant herd whenever he notices one in the forest. The herd invariably comprises of one or more matriarch females, sub-adults and juveniles of both sex and few suckling calves. A representative family group displaying a distinct demographic profile with the above composition is an indicator of the sound health and vitality of the population. Adult male is rare to be seen as part of a herd, unless the bull in musth is attempting to mate with an adult cow in estrus.  

        Though natality in wild elephants is hard to be recorded, birth of elephant babies among the captive domestic elephant stock of the forest departments is well documented (image). After the arrival of the newborn, the mother admires the baby and tries to help the newborn stand on its own. Within less than an hour, the calf wobbles to its feet and is rewarded with its first drink of milk by the mother. A baby elephant receives love from the moment it is born. Female members of the herd attend the labouring mother and immediately start bonding with the calf. 

        

        Elephant baby’s 100 per cent nutritional dependence on the mother continues until the end of the third month. Nursing pattern of young elephant calves suggest an extended period of maternal care and direct investment of energy by the mother. The average suckling duration of 2-4 minutes per hour observed in calves below one year of age is one of the highest rates reported among ungulates. During three to six months of age, however, calves continue to suckle at practically the same rate as previously in addition to feeding on vegetation indicating that they need both sources of nutrition for their growth. Elephant researcher Vijayakumaran Nair termed this as an ‘exploratory period with intense practicing’. Even though calves develop adequate motor skills, needed for feeding on plants around three to six months, they continue to derive significant amounts of nutrition from their mothers until  they are three years or older. 

        While it is the calf that generally initiates suckling either the calf or the mother terminates suckling. Researchers observed that maternal termination of suckling by male calves became pronounced after three years. Though the maternal contribution and investment beyond two years is not needed for survival, it could be crucial for maintaining growth rates, body condition, and ultimate reproductive ability of offspring. In elephant families, weaning, the process of stopping the feeding of a baby elephant with its mother's milk and accustoming it to fodder intake is very gradual. There was no specific age at which suckling suddenly terminated and in a small proportion of cases (15 per cent), an older sibling continued sporadic suckling along with younger sibling. This means, the older sibling continues to feed on mother’s milk to partly satisfy its nutritional need beyond five to six years, considering the average inter-birth interval of 4.5 years among Asian elephants in India.

        The calf spends its first few years being snuggled, caressed and guided by the cows. If the calf is in danger, the mother will risk her own life to save her baby. Elephant cows have even been observed by field scientists risking their lives to save a calf that isn’t their own.  The young calf is considered the responsibility of the whole group. Elderly female elephants are closely involved with babies until they reach their teen years, when they no longer need supervision. Matriarch elephants, known as aunts, have even been observed babysitting while mothers graze.

        Young calves usually spend most of their time in proximity to their mothers. In Ambroseli National Park, Kenya, African elephants aged up to 8 years remained within 5 m of their mothers for about 80 per cent of the time. The distance between calves and mothers increased gradually with age, especially in case of male calves. As for India, it has been recorded that calves would make distress calls when they strayed more than 5 m away from the mother.

        Calves frequently make tactile contacts with their mothers and vice-versa and scientists are not clear as to what information is being exchanged through such contact. In a study of Bandipur elephants by Vijayakumaran Nair, it has been recorded that one young calf (<6 months) was touching its mother 24 times an hour and one of its ‘allomothers’ about half as frequently. The mother touched her calf about 9 times an hour, while an allomother did so 3 times an hour. Again from a study result of Bandipur elephants, Madhav Gadgil surmised that in about 80 per cent of instances, no immediate function could be attached to an exchange. This behaviour involving contact with the mother and other members of the group are considered a vital component of sociality. Field scientists suggest that these exchanges contribute to monitoring the state of well-being of the calf by its mother and other adults. Having regular information about the well being of the calf would be advantageous to the mother as she could regulate her investment according to needs. An active calf would indicate that it is healthy while one with lower activity would be signaling that it needs assistance.

        From the earlier years of calf’s nutritional dependence on it mother (perhaps occasionally on an aunt, the allomother), through intra-social interactions with members of the family and elephant groups within a larger population, an individual elephant experiences a complex social life that culminates into this well-knit, multitier society during its life time. Elephants have been observed exhibiting love, compassion, grief and trauma.

        An insight into the above set of biological behaviours and social traits of elephants from the time when they are born up to their death obviously raises doubts in the readers’ mind, as to why the elephant calves in wild get abandoned in the first place. In this post, I intend to draw from various episodes across the country to provide an understanding to the readers about the circumstances and reasons leading to the separation of an elephant calf from its mother and as to what happens to the orphaned calf eventually. 

Lost and found- Why elephant calves get orphaned?

Wildlife lovers across the country note with concern the oft-reported incidents of elephant calves getting strayed from their mothers and family units. In the wild, baby elephants become orphaned for various reasons. The future well being of a wild elephant calf, detached from its herd depends much upon the health status of the individual at the time of its separation and the time lag between the separation and its rescue and rehabilitation by the field officials of forest department or the public. 

        The natural, individual calf related reasons for the young one to get separated from its mother and the herd could stem from a serious deformity at birth, continuous ailment and health disorder, prevalence of some nasty injuries. Separation might also arise from the death of mother elephant. Baby elephant, whose mother has died for any reason, is notoriously burdensome to keep alive. However, as a rule if a mother dies, another cow, the allomother in the family herd adopts and nurtures the baby.

      The above factors work against the welfare of the calf in general and enhance the chances of it getting abandoned by the mother and herd. Other common cause for a baby elephant to get disconnected from its family unit is any untoward accident that might happen such as attempt of predation on the calf, floods as the herd moves in its home range in the course of its routine daily movement in search of fodder and water. Accident in the wild ends in either the calf getting orphaned, grievously hurt or killed. In any case, it becomes difficult to heal the life-threatening emotional trauma in the calf, caused by separation from its mother. 

Abandonment 

A six-month-old female elephant calf that was first abandoned in the Kanyakumari forests in late 2014 was rejected again by its mother, when foresters tried to reunite them a few weeks later. The calf interned subsequently in the Vandalur Zoological Park in early 2015 was battling multiple health complications, including a festering wound from the umbilical cord probably caused during birth, was asthmatic, and had severe diarrhea and hernia problems. 

        A three month old female elephant calf was found wandering alone around areas abutting the forests in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve for the second time during October 2019 after the first reunion attempt of the strayed calf with its mother near Pambukutthipallam six days ago failed. With the final attempt to reunite the calf too didn’t succeed, the calf was sent to the Forest Department elephant camp at Mudumalai for upkeep.

        During December 2020, an elephant calf that got separated from the herd was rescued by fishermen and handed over to the Odisha forest department. Though 17 attempts were made by the department to help the calf reunite with the herd, the calf was shunned by the family herd. The calf had to be shifted to a zoo thereafter. 

        In early August 2022, a three to four month old abandoned male elephant calf was found wandering near the Muttatti-Sangam road in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary of Karnataka. After failing to unite the calf with his mother, it was given shelter at the Bannerghatta Biological Park rescue centre for rearing. 

Accident 

An eight month old calf elephant sustained grievous injuries around its chest while climbing down from the forest near Kurubarahandi village in Chamraj Nagar, Karnataka during January 2018. The calf was unable to catch up with its mother and got separated from the herd. Barely 24 hours after, it succumbed to the wounds.

        An attempt to reunite a stranded baby elephant in July 2018 that was washed away by the flood waters in Sayippunkuzhi lake in Pathanamthitta, Kerala with its mother failed, following which the calf passed away despite best efforts by the foresters. The animal had injuries on its leg and wasn’t able to take milk owing to water in its lungs.

        During the North East monsoon month of October in 2021, a male elephant calf that was part of a herd in Kanniyakumari district’s Kothayar area either got carried by flash floods into the Kothayar reservoir or slipped into the dam and drowned, as inferred from the autopsy report. The carcass that was found in the dam by the Public Works Department officials was apparently carried downstream, as the shutters of the dam was open. It was washed ashore and was found at Kothai Mudangu by the forest staff along the banks of Kodayar river two days later.

        In October 2021, a baby elephant that got stuck in an illegal gold mine in Devala near Guadalur, Nilgiris was rescued by the forest staff who walked with the calf and reunited it with its mother.

        The incessant South west monsoon rains in late August 2022 led to the sudden swelling of Sigurhalla river in the Nilgiris. Amidst this, an elephant calf got separated from its herd, as it was swept away by flood waters near Masinagudi. Fortunately, the calf managed to make its way onto the banks of the river, which was noticed by the locals who alerted the forest staff. This two-month-old elephant calf was later rescued by the staff of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve within a short time (image). Following three days long sustained effort by the forest officials, the calf was reunited with its mother successfully in their third attempt. 

                    

Why does forest department fail in reuniting orphaned calves? 

An evaluation of the individual cases throw light on the peculiar circumstances in which the elephant calves got separated from their mothers. No two situations were alike. It is believed that some serious health setback of the calf in individual case contributed to the herd leaving it behind, as it would have proved an impediment to their own progress and survival. A calf which fails to catch up with the herd even after prodding is abandoned. On calves getting abandoned, elephant expert Prof. Raman Sukumar notes ’Since elephants are highly social animals with complex family, they will not abandon the juveniles or calves without proper reasons. If a herd abandons a calf under special circumstances, it is not fit enough to survive under normal conditions prevailing in the forest. The herd abandoning the calf is just natural selection process at work in the wild. Its mother would most likely have tried to stay with the calf for a couple of days before realizing that it could not keep up’.

        Field observations in such cases suggest that calf is usually abandoned if it is ill and weak, escaping from a predator, due to flood or if the mother is mating or dead. The exception is when the calf dies in front of the herd during the group’s routine march. According to field scientists, the elephants’ response to the death of a family member is like that of humans and they undertake grief and mourning rituals when a herd member dies. Mother elephant is seen staying with the corpse of a dead calf for days. In a heart wrenching incident reported from the tea gardens of West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district in 2022, a mother elephant was found carrying the carcass of her calf in her trunk from one tea garden to another for at least 7 kilometres before leaving it in an abandoned tea field. In an unusual display of ‘thanatological behaviour’ (phenomenon of death and of psychological mechanisms for coping with them) the mother elephant was obviously grieving. The carcass was later on recovered in a highly decomposed state only after the mother and the herd of 25-30 elephants moved away from the site.

        The survival of abandoned calves or those met with accidental separation is difficult as they require milk and their mother’s shelter. Abandoned calves in the nursing age are vulnerable to infections and are not accepted by other elephant herds. As such, during an assessment study of wild elephant habitats connectivity and fragmentation in the Nilgiri- Eastern Ghat elephant landscape, researchers recorded that multiple factors lead to high mortality among calves. Elephant calf deaths happened between the ages of 1 and 8 when they normally have lower immunity. They also observed that prevalence of adverse field conditions where the calves are required to survive on stagnant water and their frequent abandonment by their mothers led to higher mortality.

        Once abandoned by the herd, baby elephants wander alone and are found starved and dehydrated. As such young orphaned calves after rescue exhibit symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, refusing to play or eat and are unresponsive to other elephants’ attempts at socialization, the forest department’s immediate response is to locate the mother and the herd and attempt to reunite the calf with its mother. It becomes a highly demanding operation for many reasons. The herd keeps on moving as a part of their daily routine in search of fodder and water. So by the time the strayed calf is found, the lactating mother with no calf around might have moved several kilometers away from the spot, aggravating the difficulty of spotting the right herd. Kalaivanan, a former wildlife Veterinarian notes ‘Adult elephants can communicate over large distances anywhere between four to five kilometers using chemical signals from dung and urine left behind by members of the group and by using infrasonic communication. However, as the sensory organs of calves are much less developed the mother elephant comes to rely on visual and auditory cues to try and find its calf, so they need to be quite close if there is to be any chance of success’.

Gateway to successful reunions

        Most often, the separated calf is deeply emaciated, bears severe wounds or suffers from health complications that require urgent veterinary or health care and nutritional support. About the future well being of an orphaned calf with acute health issues, Raman Sukumar notes that ‘with so many complications it will be difficult for the calf to survive. If veterinarians provide it 24x7 care it may survive’. As the time lag between the calf’s rescue and locating the particular herd goes up, it increases the period of calf’s physical contact with human. The probability of accepting back such calf by the herd is lower. Sense of smell in elephants is high and the chance of the mother accepting such baby with extended period of human contact into the herd’s fold is bleak. 

        Under exceptional circumstances and with luck on the side of the orphaned calf, reunion mission by the forest officials culminates in a happy note. For instance, three separate rescue incidents over the last one year in the Nilgiris under the supervision of Muduamalai Tiger Reserve’s Field Director, D.Venkatesh ended up in successfully reuniting the three elephant calves that got separated from the herds. In all these cases, the calves were separated from their mother accidentally and it is seen that there is higher chance of the animal being reunited with its herd in the event such accidental separations. Multiple but common factors helped concluding the operations successfully: these calves were separated from their herds by a freak of an accident; the calves were reunited to their herds with minimum time lag; there was only ‘minimal human interference’; human smell was camouflaged by smearing mud and dung on the calves; deployment of accomplished kumki elephants; use of drones to detect and continuously follow the movement of respective herds; and sustained effort by the officials (image and video).

        

If for any reason when the efforts of reunion end in vain, the calf is usually shifted to a department’s elephant home such as a camp or zoo. Even after arriving at a Zoo park or elephant home in a sanctuary, the calf may spend days looking for its family members and is often observed crying. The ongoing priority is to heal the life-threatening emotional trauma in the calf, caused by separation from its mother. Animal keepers must work carefully with their new charge to ensure its psychological needs and medical support is met so that they can be integrated into the other camp inmates easily. After all, elephants are social animals!