A loving mother has been captured assisting her newborn as it got back on its feet after a nasty fall during its initial few clumsy steps.
The newborn family – a mother and her two children – were observed making their way to the river for a drink in Botswana’s Chobe River when one of the smallest calves fell down repeatedly at the water’s edge.
The baby was too young to crawl on its own and probably needed support from mum. She can be seen carefully lifting her precious kid back up using her trunk and feet.
The heartwarming snaps were captured by South African wildlife photographer, Charl Stols.
The 39-year-old, who works as a photo host for Pangolin Photo Safaris, witnessed the cute encounter during a boat ride.
Charlene, who watched the elephants interact for about 40 minutes, told us. ‘The elephant cow and her two young visitors were heading to the river for a drink.’
‘The tiny calf was still pink, wobbly on its feet, and only a few hours old.
The newborn plunged several times at the water’s edge, and the mother gently guided it up using her trunk and feet.
They even traveled across to one of the islands, where they saw that the little one had actually swum all the way there, only its trunk sticking out of the water.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. We have many elephants in Chobe, but I’d never seen one so small before.
‘To see the mother carefully guide him and subsequently observe the tiny calf swim was a heartrending experience.
‘I still dream about witnessing a mother giving birth someday, but it was already quite close.’
