Comment
We’ve been excitedly sharing Khanyisa’s growth on social media to show you just how this little calf is growing before our eyes! You can certainly see the difference as she towers more and more over Lammie, her sheepy companion, and is getting taller and taller next to her human carers and Adine.
Along with the height spurt is her increasing weight! At the end of June 2020, five months after she was rescued and brought into our care at HERD, she weighed a whopping quarter of a tonne! Even with her traumatic start and her health concerns along the way, she continues to go ultimately from strength to strength, height to height.
We will be updating her Weight Tracker frequently here, because we are so proud of every new inch of her and can’t wait to see her up there at 4 tonnes with the older elephants in the Jabulani herd!
Having been rescued from a snare with severe injuries, dehydrated and abandonned by her herd, there have been many setbacks in Khanyisa’s young life. She no doubt has some trauma from being separated from her family, but through her beautiful and successful integrations with the Jabulani herd and the 24 hour care from our carers, she really is a ray of hope and Sunshine and she continues to grow in trust, confidence, personality, love and well, weight!
Good growing, little one!
Thank you to all of our valued and essential fosters and donors for your contributions to getting Khanyisa this far in her journey of rehabilitation and integration into a herd of her own.
07 September 2020 – 270 kg
Another week, another little growth spurt 💖
💛 We are excited by every new kilogram on this precious growing calf, Khanyisa Braveheart! This week she clocks in at 270 kgs! Two more kilos up from last week! 🐘🌞
As we look at her weight tracker (on our blog) which documents her increasing size over the months since she arrived in January, we are reminded of how the small steps in life make a huge impact! And soon, with continued health and success, a huge elephant! 💖
02 September 2020 – 268 kgs
Lammie accompanied her growing friend to the scale and hopped off while Khanyisa’s weight was recorded — at 268 kgs!
We’re happy to see Sunshine putting on weight steadily in spite of the long walks and her teething, and polishing off her milk beautifully, as seen here with carer, Herman. Earlier in August we shared her weight reading which stood at 265 kg. Khanyisa was 124 kgs when she was rescued in January. What a full, fascinating and rewarding journey these 8 months with this special calf have been. Later this month we’ll be celebrating her turning a year old! Can you believe it?
P.S. Lammie preferred that we not reveal her weight to the world. All the wool adds up, she says!
03 August 2020 – 260 kg
I Like You Just The Weigh You Are
Little Khanyisa gets back on the scale for a weigh-in! Her curious trunk makes it difficult for carer, Godknows to make sure the precious milk formula doesn’t spill as he tries to keep an eye on her little mouth in spite of the trunk eyepatch coming his way.
Khanyisa is certainly bigger (just look at those long legs!) at about 260 kgs, although the milk deceptively increased the numbers as seen here.
Carer Herman encourages Sunshine off the scale again with a last drop of milk, before she heads off to meet her herd and go walkabout in the Reserve for the day. Since Khanyisa weighed a mere 124 kgs when she was rescued, this is a 136 kg gain overall! Keep growing, glowing and going, sweet brave babe!
20 July 2020 – 257kg
With all her extra exercise and exploring and the occasional bout of “the runs”, Khanyisa’s weight dipped recently, but in this week’s weigh-in, we’re happy to see the numbers continuing to rise.?
20 July 2020 – 257 kilograms! She continues to drink her milk bottles well and to forage more and more on leaves, trees and bushes, while with the herd on their all-day walks. ❣️
While you may see her with branches in her mouth, she isn’t actually eating them. Instead, she removes the bark by rolling and chewing the branch in her mouth, as all elephants do. The bark that she and the other elephants eat contains a lot of nutrients. ? But she needs her essential milk formula, which we will continue to provide her with until she is weaned.
29 June 2020 – 256kg
At the end of June 2020, five months after she was rescued and brought into our care at HERD, she weighed just over quarter of a tonne! Even with her traumatic start and her health concerns along the way, she continues to go ultimately from strength to strength, height to height.
22 June 2020 – 250 kg!
Today the sweet, almost 10-month-old albino calf, Khanyisa weighs in at a big quarter of a tonne! 250 kgs! This special little elephant is definitely growing steadily now, with a 126 kg gain since she was rescued in January this year, at a mere 124 kgs. We’re so happy to see the scale numbers continue to rise!
12 June 2020 – 236kg
At Monday’s weigh-in this week, Khanyisa showed a great jump in weight! ?? We are so happy to say that she went from last week’s 228 kgs to a whopping jump-for-joy 236 kgs this week!
That’s a 112 kg gain since she was rescued in January 2020. ☀️ The bigger and stronger the better, meisiekind!
6 June 2020 – 228 kg
Khanyisa showed a 3kg gain since her last weigh-in – she is pushing 228kgs! She’s eating more now that she’s foraging out in the Bush with the Jabulani herd for longer periods, but the exercise is sure to contribute to balancing that. It’s great that she is putting on weight since her bad bout of diarrhea last month. Adine and the team continue to monitor her input and output closely.
Her 228kgs shine in comparison to the 124 kgs that she weighed when she was rescued in January 2020. It’s not just your eyes! She really is getting bigger! “Jy word nou ‘n olifant!” Adine says to Khanyisa.
28 May 2020 – 222 kg
Khanyisa lost weight due to a bad bout of diarrhea – which you can read more about here. She took a sudden turn and stopped drinking or eating, and her energy levels became very low too.
18 May 2020 – 225 Kg
At the beginning of this month, she was a big and bountiful 215 kgs. This week she is up to 225 kgs, a 1 kg loss since her last weigh-in we did and her recent serious bout of diarrhea she experienced. We are grateful that it was not a bigger loss! Overall Khanyisa has gained 101 kgs since she was rescued in January 2020, where she weighed a mere 124 kgs.
We’re glad that she is munching and drinking away again and hopefully her tummy will settle completely soon, and we will see a considerable weight increase for the next weigh-in. Sunshine, water, nutrition, exercise and love… let’s keep growing, Khanyisa!
1 May 2020 – 215 kg
Little Khanyisa is growing in every way! In knowledge, experience, support, family and, we’re happy to confirm once again… SIZE! This week her scale reading is bigger and better at 215 kgs ~ 91 kgs up from the 124 kgs that she weighed when she was rescued in January 2020.
17 April 2020 – 200 kg
We are so happy and grateful to say that due to swift action, pure love and luck and assistance from our amazing HERD elephant care team, little Khanyisa overcame her setback with diarrhea and managed to continue to pick up any weight lost – and more!
Little girl weighs in at 200 big ones this week! That’s up 76 kg from 124 kg, when she was rescued in January 2020.
2 April 2020 – 194kg
28 February 2020 – 162 kg
On 28 February, little Khanyisa weighed in at 162 kgs!
When she was rescued on 7 January 2020, she weighed 124 kgs.
We are so happy with her 38 kg increase. How quickly she is growing before our eyes!
Thank you to our wonderful care team and to you all for your support on this journey.
4 February 2020 – 143 kg
Khanyisa weighs 143KG, making an average of a kilogram gain per day – which we are pleased with.
14 January 2020 – 127 kg
Khanyisa’s snare wounds around her mouth make feedings more difficult than normal. They are still severe and need a lot of ongoing treatment throughout the day, but she wakes up active and curious, which is a great sign. She drinks her morning milk bottle with a bit of a battle, but we are glad she is drinking as her fluid intake is crucial.Still, she is not consuming the full amount that she need considering her body weight as well as the dehydration of her body following her traumatic ordeal. We are happy though to see her weight increasing.
In the first week of Khanyisa’s arrival, she weighed in at 124kgs. We didn’t take photos of her first weigh-in, unfortunately.
