Elephants have problematic moms, too. <\/p>\n
A baby Asian elephant named Linh Mai has gone viral after being rejected by her mother.<\/p>\n
Linh Mai was born on February 2 at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo in Washington, DC. <\/p>\n
Her birth mother, Nhi Linh, and maternal grandmother, Trong Nhi, initially showed aggression toward the calf, prompting zoo staff and other herd members to intervene. <\/p>\n
Linh Mai was born on February 2 at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Zoo in Washington, DC. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n
In the wake of her maternal abandonment, Linh Mai was bottle-fed by zookeepers and was taken under the wing, or trunk, of her \u201cauntie\u201d elephant, Swarna.<\/p>\n
\u201cSwarna has stepped right in as an amazing guardian for Linh Mai. Although Swarna has never birthed a calf herself, she is a natural when it comes to instinctively caring for one,\u201d said the zoo in a recent post.<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSwarna displays just the right balance of \u2018maternal care,\u2019 along with giving Linh Mai some independence. She gives the calf room to explore while staying close enough to keep an eye on her.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Swarna\u2019s influence will prove critical to Linh Mai\u2019s development; Asian elephants are an acutely intelligent, sensitive, and social species that learn their \u201cherd smarts\u201d by observing and mirroring their female relatives. <\/p>\n Swarna\u2019s influence will prove critical to Linh Mai\u2019s development Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cRather than running far ahead of Swarna as she did in the early days, Linh Mai now hangs back with her, waiting for the \u2018ok\u2019 to move forward,\u201d said the zookeepers. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0been really cool to see their relationship blossom and to watch them communicate with each other in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n Linh Mai, Vietnamese for \u201cspirit blossom,\u201d is described as \u201crambunctious, sassy, and playful\u201d by zoo staff.<\/p>\n Linh Mai is the first Asian elephant born at the Zoo in nearly 25 years, and her story of mom shunning has clearly struck a chord. <\/p>\n Linh Mai, Vietnamese for \u201cspirit blossom,\u201d is described as \u201crambunctious, sassy, and playful\u201d by zoo staff. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n An\u00a0Instagram video<\/a>\u00a0of Linh Mai posted this week drew a crowd of commentators. <\/p>\n \u201cHow is her relationship with her mom? Any better?\u201d questioned one. <\/p>\n \u201cHow is she doing with her mom?\u201d beseeched another.<\/p>\n \u201cAunties are the best!\u201d replied a third. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy heart \ud83e\udd7a Swarna\u2019s a real one,\u201d echoed another.<\/p>\n \u201cLove all the cement and bars. Very natural. Where\u2019s the mother??,\u201d asked a commentator on another video<\/a>. <\/p>\n A zoo sympathizer replied, \u201cHer mother lives there but rejected her. She\u2019s being taken care of by her auntie, and they\u2019re working on reintroducing her to her mother and the rest of the herd. The concrete helps with indoor climate control, and the bars are obviously there to keep the elephants and humans safe, since these are large animals. They also have a very large outdoor area.\u201d<\/p>\n The Smithsonian notes <\/a>that Nhi Linh is a first-time mother, and her reaction to Linh Mai reflects her \u201cconflicted feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn one hand, she shows interest in Linh Mai and responds whenever she vocalizes. On the other hand, she does not appear comfortable with the interaction and proximity to her daughter. Sometimes, she shows her discomfort by displaying frustration and aggression towards her calf.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Linh Mai\u2019s dad, Spike, like so many fathers, has greeted his offspring with ambivalence but not violence. <\/p>\n Linh Mai is scheduled to make her public debut next week on April 22, Earth Day. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n Experts maintain that maternal abandonment is very rare among Asian elephants and usually occurs when the mother is under stress or when the herd\u2019s safety is jeopardized. <\/p>\n In 2013, a baby elephant named Zhuang Zhuang was born in a Chinese zoo, and his mother immediately tried to trample him. <\/p>\n When keepers attempted to reunite them, she attacked with even greater force.<\/p>\n Nothing compares, however, to the human force used against elephants: Between 2020 and 2024, the number of elephants that died as a result of human-related causes reached 2,011 \u2014 up 37% from the previous five-year period.<\/p>\n Many have highlighted the similarities between Linh Mai\u2019s tale of woe and that of Punch, the macaque monkey<\/a> at the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan, who was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth.<\/p>\n