On the evening of 31st December a baby elephant , just a year old, was reported by Laikipia Kenya Wildlife Service warden to have been abandoned by its herd. Elephants are known to be great mothers however they can sometimes lose their calves due to natural reasons . When Seek was found, his left eye had an injury, aften treatment and thoroughly examined by vets there was sadly nothing more to be done . He cannot see with his left eye. We suspect that might be the reason why he was separated from his mother. He could easily have lost track of his herd.
On top of this Elephants sight is quite poor and they can only see for short distances of up to 20 meters. However their poor eyesight is more than compensated by excellent hearing, sense of smell and tactile sense.
Aside from elephants not having good vision, they are also colorblind and in the daylight have two kinds of color-sensors: green and red cones.
Seek was brought in to Reteti healthy and strong and despite his eye injury is now integrated with the nursery herd. It is amazing to think of the challenges these young elephants will overcome and we are committed to seeing him back in the wild where he belongs.
