Second Post - Same Day as First

As promised, I'll describe the incredible experience of watching the birth of an elk on Sunday. If you are squeamish about such things, you might stop here.

Note: On each row, the pictures go from right to left. I'll see if there is a way to fix this later.

The first picture shows the sac still filled with water, but on its way out. The next shows the two front legs out - about a foot. The one of the mother lying down is just before delivery. She is in the middle of a contraction. Look at the whites of her eyes. That happened only during contractions. This was about an hour and a half after the first picture. The next shows the actual birth. It happened very quickly!

At first, we thought the baby was not alive, but eventually we could tell it picked up its head. The picture of the calf trying to stand - back legs working, front legs still a problem - was about an hour and a half after the birth. Soon thereafter the calf got all the way up, but was very wobbly.

The last picture was a couple of hours after the previous ones. The calf was actually trying to run a little bit, but was not quite sure of its balance.

The whole process from first picture to the last was no more than 5 hours. Shortly thereafter, the mother "hid" the calf in an inside corner where two wings of our dorm meet. This is standard practice, except for the location, since the mother could not defend the calf from wolves or bears anyway, so by hiding them and leaving the area, they don't draw the predators.

The hiding place was 10 feet from a door to our dorm, so security blocked several doors and sidewalks to our dorm. The calf was gone the next morning - hopefully to a better hiding place.

This was really an amazing experience. I'm so glad it happened on one of my days off.

Lorraine and I are both off for the next two days, so we plan to travel to other parts of the park. I'll keep you posted.

Best,
Doug P.

PS Lorraine wants me to tell you that some of the original pictures were taken by her!