A pink baby elephant has been caught on camera in Botswana
By minfas
@minfas (878)
Sri Lanka
March 20, 2009 5:01am CST
"A wildlife cameraman took pictures of the calf when he spotted it amongst a herd of about 80 elephants in the Okavango Delta.
Experts believe it is probably an albino, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in African elephants.
They are unsure of its chances of long-term survival - the blazing African sunlight may cause blindness and skin problems for the calf.
Mike Holding, who spotted the baby whilst filming for a BBC wildlife programme, said: "We only saw it for a couple of minutes as the herd crossed the river."
"This was a really exciting moment for everyone in camp. We knew it was a rare sighting - no-one could believe their eyes."
More about it here... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7951331.stm
6 people like this
20 responses
@p3halliwel2005 (3156)
• Philippines
20 Mar 09
Wow that is the cutest thing ever.. I'm glad you posted this for us to see. Yes it might be considered an albino elephant. I do hope it survives in the wild it would be sad to know it wouldn't. It looks healthy though but yeah I guess we may never know unless people in the wildlife care check him out but catching the elephant would harm him as well or hurt him. I think his or her mother will care for him/her. Let's just hope for the best.
2 people like this
@kimberlynnF (170)
• United States
20 Mar 09
Yes, that elephant is really cute. I hope it stays healthy and lives a long life.
@planeswalker (102)
• Singapore
21 Mar 09
this is cool!!! sure hope that it does survive.a pink elephant!!
1 person likes this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
21 Mar 09
ah the poor little thing, maybe they can transport him to a place where he can survive as soon as he is old enough to leave his mother, or maybe there is another elephant in another part of the world at a zoo or something that can nurse him.
1 person likes this
@rosedust82 (2066)
• Philippines
20 Mar 09
Wow... This is really interesting. A pink elephant... It's a good thing the photographer was able to get a couple of pictures of it. I was actually doubting this when I first saw it. Lol.
I do hope it does survive. At least it would be a great sight to see an adult pink elephant. 
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing!1 person likes this
@faith210 (11224)
• Philippines
20 Mar 09
Hi minfas! I have checked the link and read the article. I saw the picture of the pink baby elephant and it was so cute. I really hope that it would really survive as I understand in the article that its coloring can affect its chance for survival. I really hope it would really learn to adapt to its environment and increase its chance to live for a long, long time. Thank you fro sharing this my friend.
Take care and blessings to you!
lovelots..faith
1 person likes this
@kissieme (777)
• Philippines
20 Mar 09
awww. that is so cute...I love animals so much 
I think there are lots of pink animals being spotted nowadays...
I had seen a news in 2007 of where Captain Rue had spotted a pink bottlenose dolphin swimming with a pod of dolphins at Louisianna Lake, US... The picture of the dolphin taken is so cute. It's really pink that it looked like it just went out of a paintbooth... it's so pink lol... I wish I can attach photos on here but since I'm fairly new I still don't have that privilege to paste it on here...
hmmm... now I'm wondering what pink animal will they spot next?
I think there are lots of pink animals being spotted nowadays...
I had seen a news in 2007 of where Captain Rue had spotted a pink bottlenose dolphin swimming with a pod of dolphins at Louisianna Lake, US... The picture of the dolphin taken is so cute. It's really pink that it looked like it just went out of a paintbooth... it's so pink lol... I wish I can attach photos on here but since I'm fairly new I still don't have that privilege to paste it on here...
hmmm... now I'm wondering what pink animal will they spot next? 1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
20 Mar 09
I wonder how many people swore off drinking alcoh*L and became teetottalers when they saw this pink elephant. Thank goodness it was only one. 
I hope someone captures it and takes it to a zoo so it could survive. I would hate to see this little calf get eaten by lions or whatever because it goes blind.
It sure is cute though. Is it a boy elephant or a girl elephant?
I hope someone captures it and takes it to a zoo so it could survive. I would hate to see this little calf get eaten by lions or whatever because it goes blind.
It sure is cute though. Is it a boy elephant or a girl elephant? 
@austere (2812)
• Philippines
21 Mar 09
wow!!!
a pink elephant! i really opened the link because i cant help feeling curious if it's indeed true. it's a baby elephant and it indeed has a pinkish shade. There are dark shades, but for most of it's color it really is pink. that's a little weird, but for sometime, i thought that's the original color of baby elephant, but after reading the article, it says that the elephant could be albino and might not survive because of the very hot sun. poor little thing. I havent seen an elephant for real..and i wish to see one in this life time. If i'll be lucky, i'll see a pink one!
a pink elephant! i really opened the link because i cant help feeling curious if it's indeed true. it's a baby elephant and it indeed has a pinkish shade. There are dark shades, but for most of it's color it really is pink. that's a little weird, but for sometime, i thought that's the original color of baby elephant, but after reading the article, it says that the elephant could be albino and might not survive because of the very hot sun. poor little thing. I havent seen an elephant for real..and i wish to see one in this life time. If i'll be lucky, i'll see a pink one!
@glords (2614)
• United States
20 Mar 09
Ohh... it is so cute... I'm not sure I would call it pink exactly more like light grayish... but if they say so... who am I to question the BBC News? It does look very different then the large ones. I wonder if a gene mutated... perhaps pink elephants will become the norm eventually.
@Nhey16 (2518)
• Philippines
20 Mar 09
sweet... The pink baby elephant looks so beatiful... Just hope it would grow old and healthy...
@kimberlynnF (170)
• United States
20 Mar 09
I wonder if this is some sort of albino elephant or something. It doesn't look very pink to me, but sort of gray and pink. It's really cute though. I hope it lives a healthy happy life.
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
20 Mar 09
Wow. Thanks for sharing this with all of us. We are liable to see anything these days LOL.
@michaeldadona (5684)
• Malaysia
20 Mar 09
SURVIVAL EXTRA FEATURES
I've read thoroughly that article from top to the bottom page about the reddish brown or pink hue calf. The worst part is the sun glare will effect its skin and may cause blindness. But, in the 4th. last paragraph - Dr Mike Chase wrote about the advantages of being albino; its greater chance of survival pattern and formation.
@sxrxnrr45601 (1171)
• United States
20 Mar 09
How cool is that, Nice photo's also thanks for sharing this!
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
20 Mar 09
Hi minfas,
Awwwww, that is so beautiful, I only hope the baby will survive if some poachers don't get it, I would love to see this programmme when its comes out on our channel.
Tamara
@LCHBheart (167)
• Singapore
20 Mar 09
Thanks for sharing! So not only was there a pink dolphin discovered, there is now a pink elephant. It's as if mother nature is trying make a fashion statement.
