Durban - Food, football and friends.
That’s how baby Khanyisa, a rescued albino elephant, celebrated her third birthday on Tuesday with festivities lasting from sunrise to sunset.
Khanyisa, an orphan now living at The Herd (Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development) Trust in Limpopo, was rescued from a snare that left her with serious injuries and without her original family, in January 2020.
This week, her birthday started at sunrise with companion sheep Lammie and Nungu and three bottles of milk. Then it was off to soccer ball practice, grassy nibbles and sand baths in the nursery garden, with her carers beside her.
While most enjoy a birthday cake, Khanyisa’s favourite snack is sweet potato which she relished throughout the day.
Herd’s media manager, Tamlin Wightman, said Khanyisa also had an early morning walk with her new herd and her adopted mom, Lundi, and then spent the rest of the day playing with her sister, Timisa, foraging in the wild, swimming in a waterhole, and taking several sand baths and brisk walks.
At sunset, a “knackered” Khanyisa headed back home to more milk bottles that have been instrumental in helping her to heal and grow.
Whightman said, “After a long day in the bush, she was quick to lie down on her hay bed in the nursery and rest that pretty head with Lammie, Nungu and her carer close by. It was a family affair for an orphan who has found her forever home with the herd.”
The snare she was caught in caused severe lacerations across her neck and cheeks, and the top of her right ear was cut because she had been trying to free herself for several days.
Wightman said there was no sign of her herd, which probably had to move on to feed for survival, and because elephants have very close family bonds, it must have been traumatic for all of them.
She said albino elephants like Khanyisa are extremely rare but are able to adapt and live good long lives. However, they need to protect their skin more than other elephants because it is more sensitive.
“They cover their skin in sand and mud to coat it and protect it from Africa’s harsh sun rays and from biting insects. Like other babies, Khanyisa is able to get shade from standing in the shadow of her herd’s bodies. She shields her eyes from the bright light by closing them slightly and opening them wider only in dim light.”
Wightman described Khanyisa as a confident, playful, spunky and independent young elephant who is friendly towards all the elephants in her herd and said she follows her adoptive mother everywhere.
Her favourite activities include head-butting and rolling on Timisa on the sand mounds, while she also enjoys swimming, splashing in the mud and eating anything, be it milk, sweet potatoes, marulas or green thorn tree fruit.
Wightman said the costs of Khanyisa’s milk formula, which she will have to take until she is about five, as well as her supplementary food, veterinary bills, housing and carers are very high, and anyone who wants to contribute to her living expenses is welcome to contact her caregivers on [email protected]
The Independent on Saturday