Elephant Steals Calf from Another Female | BBC Earth

The female standing over the baby is behaving strangely. But she is not the calf's mother. Her name is Atamali. She is an orphan from the elephant transit home. She's trying to shove the calf's mother out of the way. It seems she wants the baby for herself. Not surprisingly, the mother isn't happy. There's real danger here. With all the shoving, the calf could be injured. The calf's grandmother leads the baby aside. The females will have to sort this out for themselves. This very unusual behavior is rarely witnessed. African elephants sometimes kidnap a calf from another family as a display of dominance. This is different. And almost certainly, this is a direct result of Atamali's orphan upbringing. The biggest shock is the fight's outcome. That creates a serious problem. The calf is too young to know any better. But it's now following Atamali instead of its mother. Atamali has no milk. The baby could starve. Why did she even steal it in the first place? In the elephant transit home, where Atamali grew up, none of the elephants have parents. Instead, the older orphans take the younger elephants under their wing. To Atamali, this isn't stealing. It's sharing and caring. Her intentions may be good, but the outcome could be disastrous.