Please bear with me!   I have just been to Etosha Game Reserve in Namibia.   At every camp there are water-holes where one can watch the animals come down to drink.   Being "lactation-minded" I had a wonderful time watching other species breastfeeding.  ( I have posted on this before.)      
     The black rhino who is notoriously bad-tempered is the sweetest and most patient Mom - the baby who was  LARGE gave  a couple of squeals, get down onto its tummy with feet straight out in the front and nursed for at least 30 minutes while Mom just stood there with a "gooey" look in her eyes.    Minutes before the mother was charging everything in sight.
      I watched a 4-5 year old elephant trying to "tandem" nurse - they are usually weaned at 4 years old - the calf would come into feed and the mother would start to swing her front leg to discourage the calf - their mammary glands are between their front legs - the calf came off and went around to the other side and tried again - once again the mother would swing her leg - then I cottoned onto what she was doing - weaning - calf came back again to the other side - this time she used her leg and her tail - the calf came off and promptly had a "weaning tantrum" - it trumpeted loudly enough for the whole camp to hear and shook its head vigorously.  Then I saw the reason for the weaning -between the mother's legs was a very tiny calf, obviously a newborn!   They were very precious moments to me and I am sure I was the only one that knew exactly what was going on here!   At least they don't have opposition like we humans have, ie like "weak" milk, formula companies etc.   Elephants are also wonderful caring mothers.
      Thanks for letting me share.  I also had a privilege of "hugging" an elephant in Botswana- the hilight of my life!
Barbie Currie. IBCLC.
White River, Mpumalanga, South Africa.


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