Elephant Birth in Bali (graphic)

The surface of the sick bay where Riski was born is sandstone and is especially designed to be sterile and poses no threat to the mother and calf during or after the birth. The floor is sloped for run off to wash down and sterilize the area quickly. The Sumatran elephant is the smallest elephant in the world and the slight fall is less than one meter. The baby always comes out feet first, unlike a human baby. This breaks the fall as does the embryonic sack, filled with fluid. To my knowledge, there has never been an injury to a baby by this fall. Otherwise the mother would either squat or lie down for the birth, which is never the case.

You may notice that we are actually washing down the area of blood while the baby is still not completely standing. The alternative is to remove the baby and separate it from its mother. This is dangerous as it can often lead to the baby being rejected by its mother. A dirt, straw or other easily contaminated surface is not hygienic and might lead to later infection and anyway, straw laid on any surface would serve little purpose to cushion the fall. Our babies are too precious to take any risk that might harm them, so hygiene is essential.

All of our babies were born this way and we have a 100 percent success rate for raising healthy calfs. Elephants in the wild do not choose a soft surface, as they tend to birth wherever they happen to be standing at the time, on dirt, rock, or sometimes in the forest with dangerous sticks that could injure the baby. Remember, that the mother kicked the baby in the head and the ribs very severely, but this in fact brought the baby to life. Maybe she knows better what the baby can handle than we do. This is the first time that one of our babies was born dead. Usually they are alert and up on their feet within minutes. This birth was extremely unusual.