Ed Franco

Starting our day the Kaikai way! If you ever wondered what a happy elephant looks like – look no further. Our little ray of sunshine shines her emotions with every peppy step and swing of the trunk. Kaikai (and her sidekick Bungalu) are two of the youngest orphans in our care, and they are here today because of supporters like you. Both will have a home with us until they are ready to reclaim their place in the wild – a process that may take upwards of a decade. By adopting, you support their journeys and receive regular updates on their progress. Adopt Kaikai: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o…

Have you met Mwezi? This petal-eared, still wobbly-footed baby is Murera’s newest calf, born right amid our stockades last week. She’s the 97th known calf born to orphans we have rescued, raised and reintegrated: a whole dynasty living in the Tsavo Conservation Area, and their stories all started with a rescue. For Murera, it began when rangers saw her struggling, unable to walk. Now she’s a matriarch and a mum of two. Miracles do happen!

Raising young orphaned elephants requires extraordinary commitment. From milk bottle feeds to night-time cuddles, and from first mud baths to graduating to a Reintegration Unit, we’re by their sides every step of the way. It also requires donors like you, who adopt and become part of our foster family, ensuring we can guide these babies back to a wild life. Become a foster parent today and adopt an orphan in our care: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o…

Do our baby elephants sleep through the night? Spare a thought for the Keepers… Our youngest orphans are fast asleep on their hay-lined mattresses by early evening – but a good night’s unbroken sleep isn’t on the cards, for them or for their Keepers. The smallest orphans need milk every three hours, around the clock, which means a Keeper is awake in the small hours, feeding and settling each orphan back down. Some babies grow so attuned to the routine that they reach a trunk over to their Keeper’s bunk when they hear milk being prepared, impatient for their turn. Those three-hourly feeds add up, and milk is one of the biggest costs of raising an orphan. You can help cover it through our wishlist: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/s…

Easier the second time around? For Murera, it was! When Murera had her first calf, Mwana, it took the two of them a little while to work out how to nurse. Our Keepers stepped in, collecting milk from Murera and giving it to Mwana in a bottle so she’d get that vital colostrum and those antibodies. Eleven days later, things clicked, and mother and daughter began a nursing relationship that lasted until Murera fell pregnant again. Earlier this week, Murera gave birth to her second calf and, as many second-time mums can attest, things slotted into place straight away for her and Mwezi. We couldn’t be prouder of our matriarch! Discover the magical story behind Mwezi’s birth: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/n…

We know of 97 calves born in the wild to our ex-orphans. How? Because they chose to bring their newborns home to the people who raised them. Some make the pilgrimage from the wild within hours of giving birth. Others might return to our Reintegration Units a few weeks or months after. Each time, our Keepers are like proud grandparents, over the moon with happiness. Yatta has done it four times. Melia twice. A few have even chosen to give birth amid the Unit - like Murera here, with her newest baby Mwezi. Meet our wildborn family, all alive today because we chose to rescue their orphan mothers: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o…

Poppi has already found her feet at our Nursery. Her Keepers say she is remarkably self-sufficient for her age. She has the Nursery routines mapped out, knows where the best greens grow, and is not shy of starting a pushing match. Each evening, she insists on leading the whole herd home, her short legs racing to her stable with purpose. She lost her mother, but she has plenty of family around her now. Follow Poppi’s journey back to the wild by adopting her: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o…

Max may be blind, but he knows exactly what’s going on around his boma. He’s keenly aware of his wild neighbours’ comings and goings, especially the cheeky warthogs and their piglets, who descend on his boma for dinner with or without an invitation. It’s usually the smallest creatures that have the most audacity! Speaking of small but audacious, look at the oxpeckers perched on Max. These birds pick ticks and other parasites from their host, and in the wild they also act as an early alarm system, alerting rhinos to approaching danger. Meet Max: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o…

We’d like you to meet someone very special! (Though nanny Nyambeni rather overshadowed the introductions…!) Crowned with a little halo of hay, Poppi is the latest addition to our foster programme. Rescued last month, she is carrying on the legacy of her mother, Poppy – a famous matriarch who reigned over Amboseli for more than five decades. We’ll be sharing little Poppi’s full story over the coming days, but first things first: we wanted to give you a peek at the newest member of our Nursery herd. You can also head over to our website to learn more about Poppi and become one of her very first adopters: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o…

150 seconds is all it took to remove a snare from this giraffe mother. Dr Limo of the SWT/KWS Tsavo Mobile Vet Unit administered the sedative – half hanging out of a helicopter – then ground teams sprinted in to hold her steady and remove the snare. Giraffe anatomy makes anaesthesia notoriously risky, so she was given just enough to bring her safely to the ground, and it was reversed straight away. Fortunately, the snare around her leg hadn’t yet caused serious injury. Within 2.5 minutes she was back on her feet and reunited with her baby. With your support, our veterinary initiative has attended more than 14,000 wild patients to date, in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service. Learn more and support our conservation work: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/

Is Wangalla nudging Keeper Misheck along because it’s nearly milk time, or just eager for a nuzzle? We’ll let you decide. It’s fair to say she is obsessed with her Keepers. When they gather for tea in the evening, she pops into her stable, grabs a branch or two to munch on while they have their chai, and bimbles around the terraces from one Keeper to the next until bedtime. The adoration cuts both ways. Misheck, for one, refused to leave her side for a full five months after she was rescued. Discover her story in full: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o…