Do they really all start out that small? (a long awaited arrival)

By John Roberts 28 July 2008 10:42:00

Me? I blame it all on the storks, it can't be Bua Tong's fault she's too perfect an ele to play tricks like that, or perhaps she decided to spare me the excitement of playing midwife, thoughtful lady that she is.

    If we read the books we see that an elephant has a gestation period of 18 to 22 months, if K. Au had marked his calender properly it means that Bua Tong ought to have given birth sometime between April and the end of July - four months, one hundred and twenty days of opportunity to produce.

    With the deadline approaching and still no baby perhaps I shouldn't have gone to Vietnam and Bangkok on my recent ele mission, the odds were shortening fast (120 - 1 on April Fool's Day, 14 - 1 by the night of the 16th of July) but life must go on must it not?

    For some reason, then, I wasn't surprised when my phone went off at 0130 in the morning of the 16th to let me know we had an hour old baby girl - in fact I probably said something like "Oh, good" and went back to my dreaming.

    Back at camp, things were slightly more exciting, Bua Tong had started making noises at about midnight - she's been living in camp since the middle of April - by half past they knew something was up, K. Niang called Cherry the vet while K. Au (Bua Tong's Dad) went to investigate.  

    The message Cherry got was that Tong was restive, by the time she and Amp got to camp the deed was done, a short legged, skinny little elephant was trying to come to terms with the outside world and a large, fuzzy haired, first time Mum was looking to her mahout for instructions, what am I supposed to do with that? - as with Nam Khong, she couldn't reach her mother's breast, unlike Nam Khong she learned to use the steps they built for her before dawn.

    A week and a bit later she's doing fine and her Mum's getting the hang of motherhood, she's been nicknamed Am (confusingly close to Amp for those of us who can't pronounce our Thai tones and consonants but apparently it makes sense sequentially as her two legged elder sister is called Oom) and has been named Pang Raimon by her full sponsors Raimon Land, the Thai property company that will take care of her bills for us.

    Bua Tong's extra vitamin supplements to keep that milk coming strong and healthy - as well as K. Au, K. Niang and Oom's life insurance - are being covered by Nathalie and Adrian Coe for which we are all tremendously grateful.

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Pat Heather Says
7 August 2008 10:22:00

Just to send a great big thank you for the wonderful, wonderful webcam pictures of Baby Am and Bua Tong. Has she learnt to use the steps yet!!! Regards. Pat and Bill

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