Baby Elephant Ellie's Trunk Management Lesson

"Mama," Ellie said. "Why do I keep tripping over my nose?"

Mama Eleanor did not reply. She was watching Old Grand Matriarch, who lay on the ground. Old Grand Matriarch was near death. She had been a great leader for many years, especially through the terrible drought that had hit Kenya.

Old Grand Matriarch had within her the wisdom of her seventy-five years. She knew where the best rivers were, the best grass, the best place to hide from poachers, the best villages where they could approach humans if they needed help. Once an elephant had fallen into a hole and the herd couldn't pull him out. Everyone had been terrified of losing him, but Old Grand Matriarch had gone to her human friends. The humans had pulled the baby out.

Old Grand Matriarch was wise. She knew who to trust. She could tell the good humans from the bad. She knew how to survive in the woods, and that was critical, because with each day, the forests grew more dangerous. There were many more bad humans now.

Old Grand Matriarch had been trying to lead the group to a safe place, out of reach of the bad humans. But now she had collapsed. Mama Eleanor and the two other older females, Nellie and Norma, tried to lift her but, but they could not.

"You must leave me here," Old Grand Matriarch whispered. "My time has come. We've had so many babies this year after the rains. It has been the best years after years of drought. It's not safe for them. They cannot run as far or as fast. You must leave. Who knows the way?"

Mama Eleanor knew the way, but she hesitated. She was young, only thirty-eight years old. The other two were far older than she was. Nellie was forty-four and Norma was fifty-five. It was their place to lead the herd after Old Grand Matriarch. So Mama Eleanor kept quiet.

But Ellie was full of pep.

"Mama?" Ellie said. "Can we go to the water hole? You were going to teach me three things today. [1] How to not trip over my tail [2] How to protect myself from bees [3] How to charge at a lion. Come with me."

"Not today, Ellie," Mama Eleanor said, going after Ellie. "Not now. Come back."

"Why?" Ellie asked.

"Because," Mama Eleanor said. "Old Grand Matriarch was wise and wonderful. Now that she's passing away, she will no longer be there - to guide us and protect us. We need a new leader, else we will be lost. When Old Grand Matriarch took over as our leader, there had been five in our group. Now look around you. How many of us are there?"

"One, two, three..." Ellie counted. "Thirty."

"See? Old Grand Matriarch kept us females, and our babies, safe for many years, which was why we grew. She took us up north, before drought became horrible, where we found water. Elephants who did not leave the swamp died. Today we face a different danger. Bad humans are coming toward us. If we do not leave now, we will be killed. Come. Stay close to me."

Ellie sighed, but obeyed. She did not understand everything, but she knew this wasn't the time to play in the water or the mud or run around in the open grassland.

Old Grand Matriarch died that night. Everyone was distraught. They touched her with their trunks. They felt her face, her jaws, her body. They covered her with leaves. They stood in a circle around her for hours. They grieved as only friends and families do... for someone they truly loved and respected for fifty years. But it was also getting late and neither Nellie nor Norma seemed to know what to do.

Finally, Mama Eleanor couldn't wait any longer. She spoke up -

"We must leave," she said, firmly. "NOW. There is no time for discussion or arguments. Old Grand Matriarch told us we must go and that was her last wish. We cannot run. Not with so many babies. We must start to walk at once, else we will be too late."

The elephants looked at Nellie and Norma. Those two seemed uncertain, whereas Eleanor seemed sure. Eleanor spoke to them in a calm voice and urged them to rouse the kids.

"Where are we going, Mama?" Ellie said, as all the elephants rounded up their babies who were sleeping on the ground. Ellie was the only one who was awake. She was the youngest, but the most energetic. Even after playing in the mud all day, she was not ready to sleep.

"We're leaving this forest for another one, which is more dense and therefore more safe."

"But Mama," Ellie said, worried. "I can't run. I TRIP over my NOSE."

"Ellie, listen to me. Your trunk," Mama Eleanor said, softly. "Is one of the most amazing parts of your body. You can smell with it, drink with it, gather leaves and grass with it, rescue with it, greet a friend with it, and bathe yourself with it. It's your nose. It's your hand. You must use it tonight. We have to walk through the night and you must follow me without getting lost."

"How?" Ellie said, wailing. "I keep tripping over my nose! Why does it get in the way?"

"Listen to me!" Mama Eleanor said. "Lift your trunk, like this. Can you do it? Now get behind me and wrap your trunk around my tail. As long as you keep a grip on my tail, you'll not lose track of me and you will not trip over your tail. I'll know you're there too. You understand?"

"Yes," Ellie said. "But I don't want to be the last one in the herd."

"You won't be," Mama Eleanor assured Ellie. "No one will be lost. We will all hold on to each other by holding on to our tails. Okay? That way none of us will trip or be left behind."

Scared, worried, anxious, without Old Grand Matriarch, the herd left the forest they knew for another one at midnight. Mama Eleanor led the way, with Ellie behind her, hanging on to her tail. Mama Eleanor was scared too. This was her first time as the leader. She did not know if it was a good decision, if she could lead the group as well as Old Grand Matriarch. She did not know if she knew the landscape as well or understood the humans as well. She didn't know if she had as good instincts. But there was no time and no one else. They had to leave.

Mama Eleanor led the herd through the dark of the night, stopping repeatedly when she felt Ellie was getting too tired or sleepy. Ellie was the youngest of the herd. So, she set the pace. But Ellie did well and Ellie's first lesson in her trunk management - i.e., how to not trip over her nose, was successful though it had been given under the most scary of circumstances.

When morning came, the herd found themselves out of danger.

And Ellie went to sleep with a smile on her face. She had not tripped even once.

---

Let us know your comments and if you enjoyed the story. Email us at jrnsenn@gmail.com.