Lualani the elephant - the new mini matriach? - BBC wildlife

The previously timid Lualeni shocks and impresses Michaela Strachan. A year later she has become the next mini matriarch for the orphan herd.

From the BBC

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• african
• elephants
• elephant
• animal
• health
• endangered
• animals
• wild
• baby
• cute
• BBC

[Saggia1]

I have fostered Lualeni for 3 years now - I can't imagine not having her in our family!

[orangetigger73]

Breaks my heart every time I see it. Poor thing, and what a great thing they do! I've actually adopted her now, search for elephant friends on google..

[BigNorman14]

Great video, but that last second of it just screamed "ELEPHANT SEX"

[JM4EDR]

@Saggia1, God bless you.

[ViVi80]

just so happy to see her living well. it is always too saddening to watch all those videos everywhere with animals suffering at man's hands. so whenever there is good news like this, it really is wonderful and special :)

[Msbea345]

lol at Makena...she is so playful

[HenryDavidT]

The reason Lualeni & others are doing these is that they are social, herbivore animals. Sisters are very protective of their baby siblings; & they'd usually walk in a flanking move with respect to their mother, to protect the baby in the wild. Maternal instincts are genetic bred in these highly social animals & most take to it naturally. The love shown by the surrogate human mothers, toward her, nurtured little sad Lualeni into a happy & typical, caring elephant female towards smaller babies.

[SacredElephants]

Thanks! I saw this on TV and was looking for the clip of Lualeni (my 2nd foster baby.)

[jtking2504]

Wow, that's amazing, it just shows how intelligent these animals are and how much like us they are, it takes people about 3-4 months to start to recover from grief also, its no different for them.

[southhampton91]

You don't need 10 million, it's $50 to foster an elephant for a whole year and the fostering can be done online.

[blackspace007]

Ohh dear, I'm so happy for her. To go from the unhappiest one they've ever seen to the mini matriarch. It's so beautiful. They're like people in that sense where children are on their own, the older ones, despite being 9-10 years old or even younger, will take on that parental role with the younger ones. It's amazing, that natural instinct to nurture and take charge of the weaker ones. It's the essence of life. Wanting to survive and making the best of your situation. It's universal :)

[TheChosenFewTV]

YaY! i was sooo sad for Lualeni after the trama she experienced. thats awesome to see her turning her life around and moving forward