“Weaner” — That’s the name all elephant pups receive after their mother has nursed them for up to 28 days and then leaves them suddenly in the night and returns after a month on land to the sea.
When I first looked on the camera, I could see Chunk on the north side of the steel hose-reel box, but no pup!
On Sunday morning, Feb 8, I received an e-mail from Pam in England pointing out that Bertha was gone. When I first looked on the camera, I could see Chunk on the north side of the steel hose-reel box, but no pup.
The pup shows up as the shadow of the lighthouse moves back.
A few minutes later the shadow of the Lighthouse had moved and 25 days after being born, our pup was certainly all alone on the lawn. Bertha was nowhere to be seen ..
Morning of Day 2 for the weener.
DAY 2 not much has changed.. The pup will get a lot of sleeping time as it matures, and lives off the fat it has accumulated. The aerial in the foreground is that used by Environment Canada to transmit signals from its temperature, barometric and wind data from the top of the tower.
This starts what will be almost a month of fasting before the fat stores are used up and the pup will go to the ocean. This evening and tomorrow it may experience snow and rain before the weather warms up.
Now that the pup has survived this long we are about to give it a name. We have decided to use a name from the First Nations Klallum language. — stay tuned..
