Reblogged with permission from /u/holdenwook, the moderator and creator of /r/babyelephantgifs, who created the original post found here.
This has been reblogged for the sake of people who do not use reddit. Please give the page a few minutes to load the gif images, it will be worth your time.
22 months.
This has been reblogged for the sake of people who do not use reddit. Please give the page a few minutes to load the gif images, it will be worth your time.
22 months.
It takes 22 months to make a baby elephant – the longest
gestation period of all mammals. When a newborn baby elephant joins the herd,
it is surrounded and celebrated – much like a human baby.
It will grow and develop amid a complex family and social
structure. It will play,
and it will learn tough lessons.
It will be mom's best friend on some days,
but give
her headaches on others.
It will help friends overcome challenges,
but will
let them know when they are defeated.
It will be curious,
and
it will be cautious.
It will be adorable.
It will teethe,
and it will eat.
It will play-fight,
and
make lifelong friends.
It will have boring days,
followed by exciting
ones.
It will make huge mistakes.
It will walk among giants,
and eventually become
one.
One day it may have its own baby to look after.
Its brain will grow to four times the size of ours, and it
will be able to reason, think and experience complex emotions.
The part of
its brain responsible for memory will become far more intricate than ours. It
will remember old friends after decades of separation in the circus,
even
if it can no longer see due to a lifetime under bright lights.
It
will grieve and it will mourn when it loses a family member, and it will even
shed tears.
This brings me back to the number 22.
It takes 22 months to grow a baby elephant, and during
that time 67,000 elephants will be killed by poachers. Poachers are
now killing 7 percent of the elephant population in Africa every year, and the
birth rate is only 5 percent.
This is where we come in. In celebration of one
year of baby elephant gifs on reddit, we are hosting a one-week fundraising
marathon for elephants. The /r/babyelephantgifs community
raised over $14,000 for elephant charities during 2014, and we are excited to
kick off our 2015 fundraising today!
Here's how it works:
- Pick any organization that interests you and donate! Your donation can be as big or small as you would like it to be, and there are many organizations to choose from. If you're not sure where to donate, take a look at the "Did You Know?" section in the sidebar for some ideas. A more comprehensive list can be found here.
- Go
to this link and follow the instructions to verify your
donation with us.
- In
keeping with the tradition of our previous fundraisers, all donors will
receive golden elephant trophy flair. The number 22 has been added to mark the
occasion.
- The
fundraiser will run through Friday at midnight PST, and you can follow the
progress in the elephant meterwhich
will be updated daily. We are starting with a goal of $2,000 this time. It
might be too big for just one week, but we're excited to see what happens!
Thank you all for continuing to make /r/babyelephantgifs the happiest place
on reddit! Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment