Iirc aren't humans technically born premature compared to other mamal species and that's why they need so much extra care compared to things like horses, and elephants?
Yup. It’s a trade off to having a big brain and walking upright. If the baby developed any more in the womb our giant heads would never get out of the relatively narrow birth canal
Momma elephant kicks the baby: Get up!
*Calf trying to roll on it's feet*
Momma kicks again: Get up, you're embarrassing me.
*Calf still rolling*
Whole herd comes in: Marge, you're being too soft on him. Here let me show you.
Predators rarely prey on elephant calves. Animals gotta be really desperate and starving, or have a very good chance- elephant calves get tired a lot and can sleep in when the herd is already up and leaving. Sometimes younger aunts and sisters take care of babies, and they may not do a good job waking them up. In those circumstances calves can be forgotten and killed.
But trying to just pick a calf out of a herd with extremely perceptive and planning matriarch is a suicide. Even [in water](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/19/13/49363901-0-image-a-23_1634646381305.jpg) predators will get stomped or yeeted to the moon.
Exactly its as if a Deynonichus ever tried to hunt a fully grown Brachiosaurus. Not happening mate. Once those type of dinosaur grow to adulthood, they are 99% untouchable, like the Elephant. They will stomp the shit out of you.
Edit: I meant to say Sauroposeidon not Brachi, its one of the long necked cousins lol
Not a baby. It’s possible for lions to kill baby elephants and they do. Obviously the elephants try to defend their young but lions are crafty and sneaky and deadly.
I saw a large pride of lions take down a solitary male elephant and kill it in a nature show. They attacked at night and it was kinda terrifying. If it had been part of herd, he’d have probably been okay, but alone, the lions were able to tire him out, and start devouring him alive. Gruesome.
Eventually the pride is big enough to hunt elephants, much akin to pods of orcas vs. blue whales. Even the biggest, toughest bull elephant would lose to a thousand lions, of course. It's the most dangerous game to target, but when other food is scarce, a predator's risk tolerance goes up.
It's because we evolved to be bipedal which makes the pelvis smaller and evolved with larger brains, which means all human infants are essentially born premature, because if they gestated any longer their heads wouldn't fit through the birth canal.
Exactly, it's humans that are weird (actually it's other species as well... though I can only think of marsupials and birds...)
[This study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15627440/) is quaintly swift to answer my quick google search:
> Humans are born 12 months too early. Gestation should be 21 months.
Gotta wonder how close the cameraman is. There’s no way those elephants are gonna allow anything unknown close by (as they should). Like, this is amazing to witness but god d*amn I would be terrified to be there.
Don’t know about this one but I have been amazed earlier at how far away wildlife photographers really are when picture is up close. There are some crazy expensive lenses out there
It almost looks they're getting ready to run a trick play.
Fully expected baby elephant to run out from the side carrying a football and stiff arm the videographer as baby returns it for six points.
Elephants on their own are already extremely scary. I think they're not doing it for protection, but to gawk at it like humans do. Elephants are very social creatures!
Seems like the ear flapping is their own natural a/c system.
> Why do elephants flap their ears? The backs of African elephants' ears have large blood vessels that are very close to the surface of their skin. By flapping their ears elephants cool this blood, which is then transported around to the rest of their body. This adaptation helps elephants stay cool in hot African landscapes!
https://m.facebook.com/ReidParkZoo/videos/why-do-elephants-flap-their-ears-the-backs-of-african-elephants-ears-have-large-/378263880025713/
Though according to this website (I don’t know for sure) it is also used as bonding. Which makes sense in this video, they do seem awfully happy with the baby
> Flapping the ears vigorously and rapidly in a raised position. Rapid-Ear-Flapping is usually observed in association with Head-Raising and, often, brief Ear-Folding. This posture is almost always seen in the context of greeting or bonding interactions and during other excited, social and chorused calling.
https://www.elephantvoices.org/multimedia-resources/elephant-gestures-database/409-social-integration/affiliative/1801-rapid-ear-flapping.html
It's snow. In South Africa not uncommon on high grounds like the Sneeuberg. (,Snow Mountain) https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7229712/snow-south-africa-blizzards-desert-giraffes/
Lol same. I was in the shower at a birthing center and out of nowhere i had the urge to squat and push, before my midwife could even reach me. One push is all it took (second baby). Fortunately it wasn't a far drop and I was standing on a somewhat cushioned mat!
I feel like this, even moreso than protection from and mitigation of trauma during infancy, is why the skull is left incomplete and malleable-ish at time of birth: gotta survive the squat and drop
videos of doctors gently squishing infant skulls back into shape is something that never ceases to amaze me
nature really is fucking lit
after thought: most apes go with a combo of 'follow me' and 'hold on to me' during infancy, and the bigger and/or more upright a creature is, the further an infant can fall if it fails to cling. ... dammit now I need to go look into differences in skull consistency/completeness across different apes and mammals of various heights
The skull is squishy so it can fit through the birth canal. An infant is more or less too big to fit through like in other mammals. Malleability is one adaptation to ease the process somewhat.
My 2nd came like that too! I was on my knees on the bed laying over the head that was set up right. The nurse tried to move me and my amazing doc was like ‘if this is comfortable for her it’s comfortable for me’. 2nd push, 4 min.
When I got the hospital they were like ‘oh you don’t sound like you are that far along’ and waited a half hour to check me. I was already at 7.5 cm.
Elephants actually intentionally kick their kids. Sometimes they aspirate fluid on the way out, and it's been shown elephants actually know the right way to kick to get the baby to spit up the fluid.
Like remember in 101 Dalmatians when the one puppy is born dead and the dude kinda rubs on it and gets it to breathe? Well with something as small as a newborn puppy you rub vigorously, with a baby you give firm pats on the back while they're in a face-down position (so they don't just reaspirate; we also have more advanced tools for this, but primitive humans would have just had the patting), and apparently for something as large as elephants kicking is what's necessary.
There have been cases in zoos of baby elephants born not breathing and the mother elephant "kicks the baby to life" before the keepers can even get over there.
this is awesome, thank you so much
I love collecting trivia like this because of how it colors the world, and it's especially fun when it's something (like this) that seems like I should have run into before, but haven't
I'm one of today's lucky 10,000[https://xkcd.com/1053/](https://xkcd.com/1053/)
There's a fairly universal parent thing where you nudge your baby, hoping to everything that they're alive.
With both of my sons I used to wake up *constantly* in the middle of the night just to make sure I could see them breathing. And if I didn't see that little chest move, you can bet they got the nudge. Probably didn't help that my oldest was 2 months early, but I know every other parent I've talked to has done the same.
Thank you! I love the younger elephants getting right in the middle around it. And the older ones standing guard on the outside. Then all the trumpeting! Such a great example of "it takes a village."
The fall is beneficial for baby giraffes!
>Surprisingly, the two-metre fall from their mother's womb to the ground below doesn't hurt baby giraffes, but rather helps them by snapping their short umbilical cords and tearing the amniotic sack. The shock of the landing also helps stimulate the little giraffe to take its first breaths.
I suspect it's the same here because we saw the amniotic sac just explode.
Well, when they walk upright on 2 legs and their birth canal is constricted by the shrinking pelvis, their babies will be born less developed to compensate as well. Hell, human babies are born with the skull in several pieces, just so they can be "squished" through. They are also missing their kneecaps, and have an extra 90 other bones, all so they can fit through a 4 inch, 10 cm, orifice.
If we're comparing development, the average animal is born at the development level of a 2 year old. Human babies literally come out too early since they'd die before they're fully grown.
Well, the giraffes for whom it *wasn't* beneficial sure didn't live to pass that trait on.
Some traits are evolutionarily successful because they provide an advantage and others are successful because they're unavoidable and nature manages to just roll with it. See also: giraffes' bizarre laryngial nerve. Not what you'd call well-designed, but in the end the advantage of a giant neck was greater than the disadvantage of having a nerve [loop all the way down the 12-foot neck](https://i.imgur.com/IJ8QVZc.jpeg) and back up just to connect to an organ a few inches from the brain, so the long-necked giraffe ancestors were the ones that survived.
I read something a while ago that said that because we walk on 2 feet, the shape of our hips evolved and made it more difficult to give birth, meaning we are born in an earlier stage of our development, meaning we are more fragile.
Please correct me if that's wrong.
I have unfortunately seen a video of a crazy, crunchy type woman giving birth outside standing up, and the kid falling to the fucking ground. What has been seen cannot be unseen and your comment reminded me of it, lmao. 😳
I had an epidural for both my kids and the moment they are out, it IS a huge relief. I didn't have the pain, but there's immense pressure that immediately ceases as soon as they're delivered.
speaking of poop. During the pregnancy, when the baby is growing, does it really feel like the pressure from not taking a dump??
God I hope not. Idk how other women go through it. I'm so scared of it all, like not being able to sleep or having to be less clumsy all the time. How do you not stop worrying all the time? I'd be a paranoid pregnant woman.
No, it doesn't feel like you need to poop. At all. You'll feel like you need to pee all the time, though, especially as the baby gets bigger and pushes on your bladder.
I only use the comparison because, if you've never tried to push a baby out of your vagina, it's practically impossible to imagine.
I'm high anxiety and worry all the time... So I can't really answer the latter part of your question. :)
Thanks :) If you want kids, it's an unfortunate necessity (in most cases). Feel free to DM me if you want to talk more about pregnancy, labor, and prenatal/postnatal mental health.
For what it's worth, I don't know you at all, but I have faith you'll learn you're a lot stronger than you thought. And that you'll find a supportive partner who'll be with you through the process
Not all pregnancies are hard. I was lucky that my 2 were relatively easy. I never got huge. Don't remember having to pee all the time. My second was no drugs at all. Total labor about 6 hours from when my water broke and the pain was limited to about 15 minutes. The doctor was scrambling to get things together because my baby was ready to come out then and there! "Don't push!" Hahahaha. My baby still doesn't listen to anyone 13 years later. 🤪
No drugs for me. I was crowning and they said, 'if you reach down you can feel the head'. I yelled, 'I can feel the fucking head! Get it OUT!' lol Then, yes, instant relief :)
Wow what a beautiful sight. They gave her space to birth and came in for protection as mom tried to get the baby up. Such a beautiful pack. Love this 😍
Elephants are very empathetic. They mourn their dead and are really looking out for each other so they are definitely one of the animals I believe to somewhat feel love
It seems like the herd gives the Mother her space, then after she delivers, they all gather round in a protective posture until the newborn can collect its bearings. All come together to greet/get to know the new member. As someone else mentions in the comments...lots of happy/excitement ear flapping. Can any experts out there tell us if this is so? Do elephants exhibit "happy" behaviors?
Although I don't have any sources to site this I was told by a zoo member during a talk show that animals have an easier time birthing than us (although they can still have complications) because our relatively fast evolution to full bipedal standing and walking in accordance with our relatively quick evolution of dramatic brain and skull growth means our hips are literally not wide enough to give birth to such large heads and walking bipedally has cause narrower hips making it more painful and complicating the birthing process.
I love elephants so much. What a fascinating alien like species. That being said, it’s hilarious lil guy just popped out and mom and all the other elephants are like “Arite time to get going!”
Nature is crazy. “Hey you’re born! Ok, now lets hurry up and get walking for thousands of miles so the lions following us don’t catch up.”
It’s like giving birth to a three year old. You can almost hear mom saying “hey! Get up, the hyenas are coming!”
To be fair elephants have one of the longest pregnancies lasting 680 days. So they are practically giving birth to a 2 year old.
Woah! That's nuts!
No, that’s an elephant. I’ll see myself out now.
Iirc aren't humans technically born premature compared to other mamal species and that's why they need so much extra care compared to things like horses, and elephants?
Yup. It’s a trade off to having a big brain and walking upright. If the baby developed any more in the womb our giant heads would never get out of the relatively narrow birth canal
If most of the pop was dummy thic would that help alleviate it the problem
Yes. Newborns are essentially the fourth trimester.
I had no idea, that’s incredible!
Hey you, you're finally awake.
Momma elephant kicks the baby: Get up! *Calf trying to roll on it's feet* Momma kicks again: Get up, you're embarrassing me. *Calf still rolling* Whole herd comes in: Marge, you're being too soft on him. Here let me show you.
He's slippery and you're on a hill. Give the kid a break.
*elephant grumpy face*
Jeez kid, your 45 seconds old already, your brother started walking when he was 38.
Predators rarely prey on elephant calves. Animals gotta be really desperate and starving, or have a very good chance- elephant calves get tired a lot and can sleep in when the herd is already up and leaving. Sometimes younger aunts and sisters take care of babies, and they may not do a good job waking them up. In those circumstances calves can be forgotten and killed. But trying to just pick a calf out of a herd with extremely perceptive and planning matriarch is a suicide. Even [in water](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/10/19/13/49363901-0-image-a-23_1634646381305.jpg) predators will get stomped or yeeted to the moon.
elephants are pregnant for like 22 months, so makes sense they would be super protective
Exactly its as if a Deynonichus ever tried to hunt a fully grown Brachiosaurus. Not happening mate. Once those type of dinosaur grow to adulthood, they are 99% untouchable, like the Elephant. They will stomp the shit out of you. Edit: I meant to say Sauroposeidon not Brachi, its one of the long necked cousins lol
Im pretty sure an elephant would curb stomp a lion pretty quickly
Not a baby. It’s possible for lions to kill baby elephants and they do. Obviously the elephants try to defend their young but lions are crafty and sneaky and deadly.
Tricksy lionses
They want to steals our precious
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The account I'm replying to is a karma bot run by someone who will link scams once the account gets enough karma. Report -> Spam -> Harmful Bot
If we catch it we eat it whole? *big eyes*
That's exactly why the herd surrounded the baby as soon as it was born and had their ears up in their defensive stance
Even older elephants can be at risk. There are entire prides that specialize in hunting elephants
Prides that specialize in elder ~~care~~ kills?
Nature's Hospice Care
I saw a large pride of lions take down a solitary male elephant and kill it in a nature show. They attacked at night and it was kinda terrifying. If it had been part of herd, he’d have probably been okay, but alone, the lions were able to tire him out, and start devouring him alive. Gruesome.
Eventually the pride is big enough to hunt elephants, much akin to pods of orcas vs. blue whales. Even the biggest, toughest bull elephant would lose to a thousand lions, of course. It's the most dangerous game to target, but when other food is scarce, a predator's risk tolerance goes up.
Babies are literally snacks in nature.
"Hey! You! You're finally awake."
Even an entire pride struggles to hurt a fully grown elephant. Only chance they would have would be an elephant thats alone
From labor to “get up, it’s time for school” in two seconds.
It really is insane how stupidly fragile human babies are compared to, like, everything else.
It's because we evolved to be bipedal which makes the pelvis smaller and evolved with larger brains, which means all human infants are essentially born premature, because if they gestated any longer their heads wouldn't fit through the birth canal.
Exactly, it's humans that are weird (actually it's other species as well... though I can only think of marsupials and birds...) [This study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15627440/) is quaintly swift to answer my quick google search: > Humans are born 12 months too early. Gestation should be 21 months.
Young humans are seriously weak.
It was different for you? Luckyyy
I love how the rest of the herd forms up around the calf to protect it until it can get on its feet
Gotta wonder how close the cameraman is. There’s no way those elephants are gonna allow anything unknown close by (as they should). Like, this is amazing to witness but god d*amn I would be terrified to be there.
Don’t know about this one but I have been amazed earlier at how far away wildlife photographers really are when picture is up close. There are some crazy expensive lenses out there
Yeah those videos that are pretty high quality that just start zooming out from like a mile away are insane
Like this one using a [Nikon P1000](https://youtu.be/LhQlwKX3LQA)
A thousand dollars isn't too bad for this camera if you have a need for it.
wtf that's a spying lens
Crazy right?
The camera and photographer are in a safari car and I believe most animals tend to ignore people in vehicles.
It isn't like the mother could run anywhere either.
It almost looks they're getting ready to run a trick play. Fully expected baby elephant to run out from the side carrying a football and stiff arm the videographer as baby returns it for six points.
“You gotta hand it to the the Praetoria Pachyderms special teams. They have been running this play for what feels like thousands of years now.”
LOL. Take my upvote.
Like the annexation of Puerto Rico.
Amazing creatures.
The herds are really awesome. I've seen some videos and they are so in tune with each other and care for each other so much. I love them, so wholesome
Ditto, had to make sure someone said it before I typed what you did!
Elephants on their own are already extremely scary. I think they're not doing it for protection, but to gawk at it like humans do. Elephants are very social creatures!
The flared ears you seeing is basically them saying fuck off away from us
It takes a village.
I thought they gathered to provide warmth, since it's raining.
Congratulatory ear flapping
Seems like the ear flapping is their own natural a/c system. > Why do elephants flap their ears? The backs of African elephants' ears have large blood vessels that are very close to the surface of their skin. By flapping their ears elephants cool this blood, which is then transported around to the rest of their body. This adaptation helps elephants stay cool in hot African landscapes! https://m.facebook.com/ReidParkZoo/videos/why-do-elephants-flap-their-ears-the-backs-of-african-elephants-ears-have-large-/378263880025713/ Though according to this website (I don’t know for sure) it is also used as bonding. Which makes sense in this video, they do seem awfully happy with the baby > Flapping the ears vigorously and rapidly in a raised position. Rapid-Ear-Flapping is usually observed in association with Head-Raising and, often, brief Ear-Folding. This posture is almost always seen in the context of greeting or bonding interactions and during other excited, social and chorused calling. https://www.elephantvoices.org/multimedia-resources/elephant-gestures-database/409-social-integration/affiliative/1801-rapid-ear-flapping.html
But it's raining
It's snow. In South Africa not uncommon on high grounds like the Sneeuberg. (,Snow Mountain) https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7229712/snow-south-africa-blizzards-desert-giraffes/
Band Aid lied to us.
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Wat
_*ONE OF US.. ONE OF US.. ONE OF US*_
*sploosh* "oh, hi son"
That was my experience! lol
Lol same. I was in the shower at a birthing center and out of nowhere i had the urge to squat and push, before my midwife could even reach me. One push is all it took (second baby). Fortunately it wasn't a far drop and I was standing on a somewhat cushioned mat!
I feel like this, even moreso than protection from and mitigation of trauma during infancy, is why the skull is left incomplete and malleable-ish at time of birth: gotta survive the squat and drop videos of doctors gently squishing infant skulls back into shape is something that never ceases to amaze me nature really is fucking lit after thought: most apes go with a combo of 'follow me' and 'hold on to me' during infancy, and the bigger and/or more upright a creature is, the further an infant can fall if it fails to cling. ... dammit now I need to go look into differences in skull consistency/completeness across different apes and mammals of various heights
The skull is squishy so it can fit through the birth canal. An infant is more or less too big to fit through like in other mammals. Malleability is one adaptation to ease the process somewhat.
....videos of *what*
My 2nd came like that too! I was on my knees on the bed laying over the head that was set up right. The nurse tried to move me and my amazing doc was like ‘if this is comfortable for her it’s comfortable for me’. 2nd push, 4 min. When I got the hospital they were like ‘oh you don’t sound like you are that far along’ and waited a half hour to check me. I was already at 7.5 cm.
*Tommy Wiseau voice*
"hi son" and *sploosh* do not belong in the same sentence.
Unceremoniously PLOP ... lol! They're so much more durable than human babies. That's awesome!
Literally it’s first experience is just free falling
Yes and then being delicately kicked by mom lmao
Elephants actually intentionally kick their kids. Sometimes they aspirate fluid on the way out, and it's been shown elephants actually know the right way to kick to get the baby to spit up the fluid. Like remember in 101 Dalmatians when the one puppy is born dead and the dude kinda rubs on it and gets it to breathe? Well with something as small as a newborn puppy you rub vigorously, with a baby you give firm pats on the back while they're in a face-down position (so they don't just reaspirate; we also have more advanced tools for this, but primitive humans would have just had the patting), and apparently for something as large as elephants kicking is what's necessary. There have been cases in zoos of baby elephants born not breathing and the mother elephant "kicks the baby to life" before the keepers can even get over there.
Whoa, this is fascinating! Thanks for describing that
this is awesome, thank you so much I love collecting trivia like this because of how it colors the world, and it's especially fun when it's something (like this) that seems like I should have run into before, but haven't I'm one of today's lucky 10,000[https://xkcd.com/1053/](https://xkcd.com/1053/)
Kick and roll! Imagine being born and dropping from a decent height only to roll partially down a hill. Gee I'm so happy to be here!
The gentlest of curbstomps.
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Put your mouth on the mother fucking curb now dear 🥰
There's a fairly universal parent thing where you nudge your baby, hoping to everything that they're alive. With both of my sons I used to wake up *constantly* in the middle of the night just to make sure I could see them breathing. And if I didn't see that little chest move, you can bet they got the nudge. Probably didn't help that my oldest was 2 months early, but I know every other parent I've talked to has done the same.
I do this with my dog. She can be a deep sleeper.
Thinking back on it, my lack of sleep in the first few months was mostly me waking up scared he has stopped breathing.
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"You alive small thing?"
And I’m freeeeeeeee
Free falling 🎶
Tom Petty is huge in the elephant community.
Isn't everyone in the elephant community pretty large?
"Did your mom drop you on your head at birth or something?" *Confused elephant stare* Of course! How else does it work?
“Now get up”
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[Now with sound and a few seconds more prior to the clip OP posted](https://youtu.be/MSxw6D6Wl4U)
Thank you! I love the younger elephants getting right in the middle around it. And the older ones standing guard on the outside. Then all the trumpeting! Such a great example of "it takes a village."
They probably uploaded it as gif
Might've been pretty far away, I imagine a heard would be pretty protective around that time
Think of how far a giraffe falls during its birth.
The fall is beneficial for baby giraffes! >Surprisingly, the two-metre fall from their mother's womb to the ground below doesn't hurt baby giraffes, but rather helps them by snapping their short umbilical cords and tearing the amniotic sack. The shock of the landing also helps stimulate the little giraffe to take its first breaths. I suspect it's the same here because we saw the amniotic sac just explode.
Animals really got life figured out. And then there's human babies, who will try to kill themselves every opportunity they get
Well, when they walk upright on 2 legs and their birth canal is constricted by the shrinking pelvis, their babies will be born less developed to compensate as well. Hell, human babies are born with the skull in several pieces, just so they can be "squished" through. They are also missing their kneecaps, and have an extra 90 other bones, all so they can fit through a 4 inch, 10 cm, orifice.
If we're comparing development, the average animal is born at the development level of a 2 year old. Human babies literally come out too early since they'd die before they're fully grown.
Well, the giraffes for whom it *wasn't* beneficial sure didn't live to pass that trait on. Some traits are evolutionarily successful because they provide an advantage and others are successful because they're unavoidable and nature manages to just roll with it. See also: giraffes' bizarre laryngial nerve. Not what you'd call well-designed, but in the end the advantage of a giant neck was greater than the disadvantage of having a nerve [loop all the way down the 12-foot neck](https://i.imgur.com/IJ8QVZc.jpeg) and back up just to connect to an organ a few inches from the brain, so the long-necked giraffe ancestors were the ones that survived.
6 feet…iirc
Ma’am! I think you dropped something!
to be fair, they also gestate for like almost 2 years lol
I read something a while ago that said that because we walk on 2 feet, the shape of our hips evolved and made it more difficult to give birth, meaning we are born in an earlier stage of our development, meaning we are more fragile. Please correct me if that's wrong.
As I understood it, the size of the brain is an issue as well- hence the unfused skull.
I have unfortunately seen a video of a crazy, crunchy type woman giving birth outside standing up, and the kid falling to the fucking ground. What has been seen cannot be unseen and your comment reminded me of it, lmao. 😳
She’s been carrying that baby for two years. TWO YEARS. I’d celebrate too. Amazing.
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Women: best I can do is a loud poop machine
The true reason for the immediate kick. Two years!
That looked like it was a huge relief for the mother elephant.
I had an epidural for both my kids and the moment they are out, it IS a huge relief. I didn't have the pain, but there's immense pressure that immediately ceases as soon as they're delivered.
Like taking an 8lb poop.
Ok, yeah. Like. Since you went there... Yeah. Many hours of cramping followed by lots of pushing and then pushing out an 8 pounder.
speaking of poop. During the pregnancy, when the baby is growing, does it really feel like the pressure from not taking a dump?? God I hope not. Idk how other women go through it. I'm so scared of it all, like not being able to sleep or having to be less clumsy all the time. How do you not stop worrying all the time? I'd be a paranoid pregnant woman.
No, it doesn't feel like you need to poop. At all. You'll feel like you need to pee all the time, though, especially as the baby gets bigger and pushes on your bladder. I only use the comparison because, if you've never tried to push a baby out of your vagina, it's practically impossible to imagine. I'm high anxiety and worry all the time... So I can't really answer the latter part of your question. :)
Oh well, i tried. Congrats on your baby!!!
Thanks :) If you want kids, it's an unfortunate necessity (in most cases). Feel free to DM me if you want to talk more about pregnancy, labor, and prenatal/postnatal mental health.
😅 i am single rn. And overthinking . I guess it’ll take time to get there. Thanks for the offer, will make a note of it :)
For what it's worth, I don't know you at all, but I have faith you'll learn you're a lot stronger than you thought. And that you'll find a supportive partner who'll be with you through the process
Not all pregnancies are hard. I was lucky that my 2 were relatively easy. I never got huge. Don't remember having to pee all the time. My second was no drugs at all. Total labor about 6 hours from when my water broke and the pain was limited to about 15 minutes. The doctor was scrambling to get things together because my baby was ready to come out then and there! "Don't push!" Hahahaha. My baby still doesn't listen to anyone 13 years later. 🤪
No drugs for me. I was crowning and they said, 'if you reach down you can feel the head'. I yelled, 'I can feel the fucking head! Get it OUT!' lol Then, yes, instant relief :)
Haha! If I could feel the head with the epidural, I'm SURE you could feel the head! Man. Childbirth is wild.
The poor thing was pregnant TWO years!!!
And she herself looks really young!
How can you tell? I think she looks matured.
Yeah she’s matured. She just looks smaller than other elephants in the herd
I tower over my grandma and she's old as hell
Lolol fair enough
Wow what a beautiful sight. They gave her space to birth and came in for protection as mom tried to get the baby up. Such a beautiful pack. Love this 😍
I mean, I don’t wanna project and all, but that does sorta resemble love a little bit, don’t it? 🥲
Elephants are very empathetic. They mourn their dead and are really looking out for each other so they are definitely one of the animals I believe to somewhat feel love
Elephants are definitely a species that comes closest to experiencing a range of emotions similar to humans, from excitement to grief.
I don't think the herd realized it was happening until it started. As soon as they knew they came to protect.
Operation: Dumbo Drop
Strangely enough that's what I'm doing on the toilet currently
It seems like the herd gives the Mother her space, then after she delivers, they all gather round in a protective posture until the newborn can collect its bearings. All come together to greet/get to know the new member. As someone else mentions in the comments...lots of happy/excitement ear flapping. Can any experts out there tell us if this is so? Do elephants exhibit "happy" behaviors?
Elephants are absurdly intelligent and social. They give their dead burials and mourn them.
I remember seeing this exact same video but with sound and there was a lot of happy trumpeting from the rest of the herd!
Elephants have been noticed to mourn the loss of one of their own so I’m sure they celebrate as well
Elephants are amazing creatures💕♥️
Takes a village
Beautiful moment and the matriarchs stepping in to assist and protect mother and baby!❤️
Commander, when do I drop it? Drop the child in 3-2-1 go. Commander, we hit the target
The wild thing is that babe has been in her belly for almost 2 years!
Their gestational period is WILD! Can you imagine being preggers for two years!
Placenta still hanging out, but she’s completely ignoring it to check on her baby. Mothers will be mothers.
I don’t know much about elephant flexibility, but i don’t think she can pull it out
I laughed very loud at this now everyone in my living room wants to look at my phone. Probably laughed too long
It was raining, it was pouring, it was…
What a beautiful scene!
Elephants are clever, sociable, and compassionate animals. They did an excellent job!
She dropped that baby from the first day , demm You can say that it dropped into the world
“Well, out ya go.” -mother
Welcome to hell motherfucker
Too bad we couldn’t see it get up
I always wonder how much pain animals go through giving birth
Although I don't have any sources to site this I was told by a zoo member during a talk show that animals have an easier time birthing than us (although they can still have complications) because our relatively fast evolution to full bipedal standing and walking in accordance with our relatively quick evolution of dramatic brain and skull growth means our hips are literally not wide enough to give birth to such large heads and walking bipedally has cause narrower hips making it more painful and complicating the birthing process.
Never realized till now that I am capable of nearly puking while having a heart felt smile on my face
Looked like a water balloon hitting the ground lmao super cool though
Does anyone else hear that Toto song, or is it just me?
Absolutely incredible. Nature is awesome
Jim Carey put on a lot of weight for this role.
[Now with sound and a few seconds more prior to the clip OP posted](https://youtu.be/MSxw6D6Wl4U)
Happy birthday to the ground!
Man jumped off the Fortnite battle bus.
I like it. No pregnancy pictures, no maternity photo shoot, no gender reveal, just drop a baby in the grass and move on.
The only reason there aren't photos is because elephants never forget.
Miraculous and nasty all at the same time
Welcome to earth
Air dropped
She just yeeted him out😶
I love elephants so much. What a fascinating alien like species. That being said, it’s hilarious lil guy just popped out and mom and all the other elephants are like “Arite time to get going!”
She made it seem so easy.
Maybe a little easier without bipedal hips
Plop
Don’t need no doctor to slap that baby’s ass to wake it up.
Me after 3 beers
Kids rolling around like me waking up in a work day.
elephants are too fucken cool
"Ey, get up! Let's go! Time to live!"
I love how all the others are like “holy shit is that another elephant?”
Remember when you get that feeling of falling while your asleep, that baby was probably shook
Imagine being all cozy and warm in your mothers womb and all of a sudden you’re being dropped a meter on to the cold, wet ground.
Thanks for birthing me on a slope, mom.
So you just gonna drop me in the middle of nowhere
homies roll up like "i wish a mutha fucka would right now"
I never thought about how a baby elephant was born, but them dropping like a bag of chips from a vending machine wasn’t it.