April is a month of festivity for us here at Elephant Nature Park. Songkran, the Buddhist new year, followed by Faa Mai’s birthday along with ENP’s 10-year anniversary are cause of great celebration. Thanks to Dok Ngern and the wonders of nature, we now have yet another reason to be filled with happiness and merriment this year — the arrival of Dok Mai.
We do not often advertise the possibly pregnant females who are roaming about the park. Since the gestation period is from 18 to 22 months, the build up of waiting and excitement can drive you crazy. Here at Elephant Nature Park, based on activities witnessed on several occasions, we had a feeling that a few of our females were most likely expecting.
After the birth of Navann in late October, we started to pay much more attention to the bellies, breasts and behavior of our ladies who have been reproductively active in the past two years.
Oh, to be an elephant … to fully understand their conversations and body language. They know exactly what is going on with each other and who will give birth when.
We, on the other hand, can just wait.
This time, they tricked us.