In this adorable scene filmed at a wildlife center in Kenya, a rescued elephant drinks water from a hosepipe.
Lemeki is a 5-month-old orphaned calf growing up at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s Neonate Nursery in Tsavo Conservation Area, Nairobi.
She was saved as an infant in May after being swept into the raging Mara River during a flood.
Luckily, the experience didn’t dehydrate her, and she enjoyed soaking in the object and drinking it through the hose used by the staff to create the mud baths for the animals.
The footage shows her holding the hose in her trunk and using it as a straw to suck up water.
Lemeki has always been drawn to it, often causing tug-of-war with her fellow orphans over who gets to drink it.
Lemeki’s keepers said: ‘She was boisterous, noisy, and a complete clown.
‘She loves the attention, in the fact that she demands it, and her outsize personality engulfs everyone and everything in her path.’
At this age, she’s still completely dependent on their caregivers for milk, safety, and the presence of nurturing.
But Lemeki will return to the wild in a protected area when she gets older.
To date, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust – one of East Africa’s oldest conservation organizations – has successfully rescued more than 260 orphaned elephants.
