Exciting News/Unusual Behaviours

The Cheese and Vegetable families have been giving us some exciting news along with some very unusual behaviours.

I recently saw a young female coming up the driveway with a brand new baby – and she was all alone.   As I have previously mentioned, elephant seldom give birth alone, and the arrival of a new family member is usually cause for tremendous celebration. 

One day old Butternut stands in the shade of her mother, Spinach

So, needless to say, I was very curious to discover who this solitary new mother was. I could not believe my eyes when I realized that it was Artichoke’s daughter, Spinach!  I had suspected that she was pregnant but was shocked to see her alone with this tiny, little calf – clearly not more than a day old.

Because we were experiencing very, dry conditions with little forage for elephant, we gave Spinach some lucerne.   Then, knowing that her mother was at the feeding station, we hurried down in anticipation of filming the joyous reunion.  However, to my astonishment, Spinach never came down, and Artichoke headed up toward the forest along with the rest of the family.  This was particularly surprising as Spinach is one of those elephant that never strays far and has always been seen with her mother.

The next few times that I saw the Vegetable family, Spinach and her calf were not with them, and I grew increasingly concerned.  However, I am happy to report that Spinach and her little girl, who has been named Butternut, managed to survive, despite being on their own, and are now reunited with the family.

Although quite small for his age, Ricotta manages to keep
up with his mother, Stilton, and the rest of the Cheese family

As I wrote in the last blog, Mozzarella has had her first baby, a little girl named Emmental.   Stilton also has had her first calf during these difficult times.  She remains with the Cheeses lately, although Mozzarella still spends most of her time with the Vegetable family.  The dry spell has broken, and both Emmental and Ricotta survived the hard times.  I am sure that both first time mothers benefited from being part of strong families headed by wise matriarchs. 

I do, however, remain a bit concerned about Ricotta as he is still quite small for his age and, despite the fact that new, nutritious grass is abundant, Stilton still appears not to have much milk.  So, only time will tell if little Ricotta will grow to be the healthy young bull that we are hoping for.

In the meantime, Celery and the two boys remain with Camembert who has been coming to the feeding station on a regular basis.