Elephants Use Their Trunks To Show Newborn How To Eat For The First Time
Dok Rak was born to his mother Dok Ngern at Elephant Nature Park in Thailand, and within hours, it was time for him to learn to eat.
In the wild, a mother elephant has a friend or "nanny" to help her take care of her newborn, and one of the first things the nanny helps with is making sure the baby learns to suckle milk.
Dok Ngern and her friend used their trunks to guide little Dok Rak to suckle milk for the first time ...
... and after a few tries and much prodding, eventually, he got it.
In captivity, mother elephants often give birth alone, and don't have a friend to help them introduce their baby to the world. This can be damaging, and it's a great relief that groups such as Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus are finally catching on to the fact that elephants don't belong in captivity.
Check out the full video of Dok Rak learning to eat below: