Caught On Camera: Baby Elephant’s Big First Steps

Every parent wants their baby’s first steps captured on camera.

When you have only a long trunk though, sometimes you have to rely on the help of others.

And when you live in a zoo, you have to accept that a recording of your first steps will be spread virally around the world, for everyone to see.

And so is the tale of a baby elephant at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, England whose first steps, normally the stuff of family videos and baby books, have become a YouTube sensation.

A tourist captured the tiny elephant trying to figure out what, exactly, the gigantic feet at the end of his four stubby legs are, and how that long trunk thing attached to his head fits into it all.

While the adults stand back, the elephant figures out his way by kicking his legs up and down, wobbly putting one foot in front of the other, and twirling his trunk all the while.

He gets twisted up and tangled around, but manages to stay upright the entire time, a true testament to elephants’ well-known stubborn streaks or, perhaps, just a youngster’s will to achieve.