A video of very small elephant calf taken by ranger Rul on the 9th of January 2016. Elephant calves can manage to stand about an hour after birth as they must be able to reach the teats of the mother in order to drink. They will still be fairly unsure on their feet for a week or two after this. Amazing to see how protective the mother is. An older sister would also often take on the duties of a nanny. She would take this extra responsibility very seriously and it is very interesting how strong the maternal instincts are. Elephants have 8 large muscles on each side of their trunks divided into 150 000 individual muscle units and it would take a while to learn how to use properly. A calf would bend down to the water to drink with its mouth and only start using the trunk to drink after about 4 months. Small calves spend their days practicing making all four legs go in the same direction at the same time, perfecting their ear flaring, and mastering trunk control.