We've been witnessing a baby boom of late among the ex-orphans – and in many ways, we can trace it all the way back to 2008, when Eve was born. She was the first calf ever born to an orphan who had started their recovery at the Nairobi Nursery – a journey hundreds of motherless elephants have followed since. Emily, our trailblazing elephant matriarch, had come to us at one month old, pulled from a disused pit latrine. Her own mother failed to recognise her, so we raised her, and she returned to the wild. Then, on the morning of 11th December 2008, the Keepers at Voi set out early. They had been watching for Emily for weeks – and the night before, they had spotted her standing beneath a tree on a rocky kopje near the stockades, attended by two wild cows. They knew what that meant. When they returned at dawn, wobbling on unsteady legs beside her mother, was Eve. And since that moment, our wild family has continued to grow. Today it numbers 92 known babies, stretching from Eve to Imp – the newest member of the family: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/news/updates/i…
