Life is full of beautiful things, but few things can compare to the sight of babies taking their first steps into this new world in which they were born. That is especially true when the babies we talk about are little elephant calves.
Fresno Chaffee Zoo has recently welcomed a couple of younglings just like that to their family. And yet, despite being no older than a month, these little elephants have already taken over everyone’s hearts, as people can’t get enough of watching everything that they do. Scroll down to learn more!
More info: TikTok
The only thing cuter than an elephant baby is that same calf clumsily playing with a giant red ball that he can barely see over
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (Facebook)
Fresno Chaffee Zoo has recently welcomed 2 baby elephants who almost instantly made everyone fall in love with them
Even though Fresno Chaffee Zoo has been around for close to 90 years, it still manages to bring joy to our everyday lives through simple yet naturally beautiful things. For example, just last month, the staff on the zoo’s Facebook page shared about the birth of 2 wonderful baby elephants, instantly improving every person’s day who came in contact with this news.
Being constantly updated online, we could see that the calves were growing big and strong, and the cute videos of their playfulness took over everyone’s hearts. Now, the baby elephants were finally officially introduced to the public as they made their debut in the zoo’s viewing area just 3 days ago.
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (TikTok)
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (TikTok)
The video demonstrating their cuteness, in particular, was about one of the calves playing with a giant red ball, which made him seem like real-life Dumbo
But even before their public appearance, they were already quite famous online. One of the videos that made sure of it was of one of the calves playing with a ball that appeared quite giant when compared to the tiny elephant.
The little baby was running around the ball in his enclosure, trying to push it and otherwise play with it. Of course, due to not yet being completely used to running on his own 4 feet, the elephant eventually tripped and fell backward into the sand.
This sight made people online fall in love with him almost instantly. Everyone was melting over how the calf didn’t seem to know what to do with his trunk or how he held his ears out as wide as he could, which is not something you’d see a grown elephant do.
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (TikTok)
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (TikTok)
Check out the full video:
In many ways, the zoo’s newborns appear to be just like human children. Putting aside the fact that they’re already over 3 feet tall and weigh a good couple of hundred pounds, they’re just as clumsy, playful, curious, vulnerable, and adorable. Unlike humans, they might be able to walk almost immediately after birth, but they suck on their trunks to calm themselves down, just like human babies suck on their thumbs.
But it’s not just elephants, is it? It seems that all babies of different mammals seem to capture our hearts with ease. After all, it’s not without a reason that we see them so often online and in various ads. Do you wonder why that is? Well, Bethan Bell of BBC News might just have an answer for us here.
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (Facebook)
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (TikTok)
According to Nobel prize-winning Austrian academic Konrad Lorenz, it seems that we’re tricked by an evolved response that we have to human children, which naturally require our care to survive, which, in the long term, helps ensure the human race’s survival.
Now, since many animals possess plenty of features that are shared by human babies, like large eyes, a bulging forehead and retreated chin, we tend to transfer our reaction to the same features in other mammals.
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (Facebook)
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (Facebook)
It seems that we judge the appearance of other animals using the same criteria that fit our own babies, even if that judgment is often quite inappropriate when looking at the evolutionary context.
For example, like elephants, most babies of other species are a lot more capable right after they’re born than humans. Our offspring, on the other hand, are not only unable to walk but can’t do almost anything by themselves.
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (TikTok)
Image credits: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (Facebook)
This, of course, doesn’t mean that we can confuse a human child with, say, an elephant calf. But even though we understand the difference, the impulse to care for that cute little creature is strong nonetheless, and we often are unable to try and resist it.
And, in the end, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Even more so, it can often be quite good. Seeing videos like the one of this tiny baby elephant playing around with a huge ball undoubtedly makes us feel good and, if only for a moment, helps us escape our routine and daily problems. Sure, we might technically be tricked here, but does it really matter?
What did you think about this story? Would you like to meet these baby elephants in person? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
The commenters were completely taken over by the cuteness of the baby elephants, daydreaming about how cutely they don't know how to use their trunk and ears
